Etheridge: Jolie's Double Mastectomy Not 'Brave'

When Angelina Jolie revealed her choice to have a preventative double mastectomy, celebrities fell all over themselves in their rush to call her courageous—but not Melissa Etheridge. In an interview with the Washington Blade last week that apparently just got noticed by the celebrity media, Etheridge—a breast cancer survivor herself—says, "I wouldn't call it the brave choice. I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer." She says she, too, carries the breast cancer gene mutation that caused Jolie to make her decision.

"My belief is that cancer comes from inside you and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body," Etheridge continues. "It’s the stress that will turn that gene on or not. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything but it never comes to cancer." Of course, Extra got Brad Pitt's thoughts on the matter at the New York premiere of his new movie, World War Z. "Oh, I didn’t know, I haven’t seen her," he said when asked about Etheridge's comments. "Melissa is an old friend of mine, so I’ll have to give her a call." On the same red carpet, he told People Jolie is still "sexy as ever." (More Angelina Jolie stories.)