Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (Reuters)
Brad Pitt yesterday hailed the love of his life, Angelina Jolie, as “absolutely heroic’’ for opting to undergo a preventative double mastectomy after discovering she carries the breast-cancer gene.
“All I want is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family,” Pitt, 49, said in a statement.
“Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as many others like her, absolutely heroic.”
Pitt’s support for his fierce actress-fiancée came as:
* Celebrities including breast-cancer survivors Sheryl Crow, Giuliana Rancic and Kylie Minogue flooded social media to praise the 37-year-old Jolie, a mother of six.
* New York City hospitals said they were being bombarded with calls from women who read yesterday’s New York Times op-ed by Jolie detailing her saga, seeking to be tested for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, which can increase the chance of breast cancer by up to 87 percent, or undergo surgery similar to Jolie’s.
* It was revealed that Jolie underwent a rare extra procedure to try to save as much of her breasts’ previous appearance as possible, including keeping the sensation and color in her nipples.
* A pal said the ordeal is making Jolie rethink any hesitation she might have had about marrying, deciding it should happen “sooner rather than later,’’ London’s Daily Mail reported.
The Oscar-winning actress — who took home a Best Supporting Actress statuette for her role in “Girl, Interrupted’’ — wrote in her first-person piece how she came to her dramatic decision.
“My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56,’’ said Jolie, the daughter of French actress Marcheline Bertrand and actor Jon Voight.
Jolie wrote that her kids “often speak of ‘Mommy’s mommy,’ and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us.
“They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is, I carry a ‘faulty’ gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as I could,’’ Jolie said.
The actress, routinely called “the most beautiful woman in the world,” praised Pitt, describing him as “so loving and supportive.”
“Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together,’’ she wrote.
“We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.”
Jolie underwent three surgeries between Feb. 2 and April 27. Incredibly, she managed to keep her plight under wraps from the media.
“Brad and Angelina only told close family — among them her father . . . who she’s been estranged from so often but who has been immensely helpful in the last month,’’ a friend told the Mail.
Voight yesterday said Pitt’s “love and admiration for her can never be measured in words.”
“It’s wonderful . . . [She] will be an inspiration to all women who are vulnerable,” Voight told the Web site Gossip Cop, adding that he had just spoken to her and she was doing “terrific.’’
Between her major surgeries, the famed UN special envoy even continued her humanitarian work abroad, sources said.
In March — soon after her second operation — she went with British Foreign Secretary William Hague to the Democratic Republic of Congo to highlight the plight of rape victims in war zones, the Times of London said.
She traveled for hours on bumpy dirt roads — and even carried her own bag, colleagues said.
Jolie gave “no sign she was undergoing treatment,’’ a stunned Hague told the paper.
“She’s a very brave lady, not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment but also to write about it now and talk about it.”
Jolie refused to worry about her film career, turning down several roles to concentrate on her health and her human-rights work, sources told the Mail.
She turned down the sequel to her 2010 spy movie “Salt,’’ at least for now, as well as a terrorist action flick, “Survivor,’’ the Mail said.
But the actress — who was previously married to Jonny Lee Miller, star of the CBS series “Elementary,’’ and actor Billy Bob Thornton — likely won’t wait much longer to marry Pitt, the Mail said, quoting a pal.
“Brad has been caught up in production turmoil with his new film ‘World War Z,’ so there’s been no wedding planning as a result, but Angie has said it will happen sooner rather than later,’’ the friend said.
“Angie is keen on a wedding, and the kids are clamoring for a marriage and keep asking Brad and Angie when it’s happening.”
The pair famously fell in love on the set of 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” — while Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston.
They got engaged in 2011. They were said to be eyeing their magnificent château in France as the wedding location.
Regardless, Jolie wrote she had only one thing in mind when she underwent the knife.
“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer . . . They can see my small scars, and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was,’’ she said.