Brad Pitt calls Jolie 'heroic' following double mastectomy

Brad Pitt has called his partner Angelina Jolie 'absolutely heroic' after she revealed that she has had a double mastectomy.

Pitt spoke following Jolie's piece for the New York Times in which she spoke candidly about her decision and the procedure itself.

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Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said: “Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus. It doesn't have to be a scary thing.

“All I want for is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family.”

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It emerged that Jolie had the first of a number of surgeries in February, completing the procedure last month.

Jolie had found to be a carrier of the BRCA1 gene which meant she had a significant chance of contracting breast and ovarian cancer, the disease which killed her mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, at the age of 56.

Now the likelihood of her contracting breast cancer is vastly reduced.

“My mother fought cancer for almost a decade,” Jolie wrote in the New York Times editorial.

“She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”