Angelina Jolie: 'Tomb Raider' Actress Criticized By Melissa Etheridge for Double Mastectomy

Many referred to Angelina Jolie's decision to undergo a double mastectomy heroic, but musician Melissa Etheridge doesn't agree. In fact, she seemed to suggest the move was a little cowardly. 

"I wouldn't call it the brave choice," Etheridge said in an interview with The Washington Blade. "I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer."

If going out of the way to prevent cancer is being a chicken, sign us up. 

Jolie announced the decision in an op-ed in The New York Times in May, saying that doctors had discovered she possesses BRCA-1 gene that greatly increases chances of getting breast cancer. Mastectomies are generally performed as a necessity for breast cancer patients, but can be done in preventative situations as well. Jolie was praised for her decision because, well, many believed that portion of the actress's body was one of her most valued assets. 

Etheridge has already gotten through breast cancer, but she doesn't prescribe much of the blame to the BRCA-1 gene, which the singer also has. She instead sees her bout with cancer in 2005 as the result of stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.  

"My belief is that cancer comes from inside you and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body. It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not," Etheridge said. "Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything, but it never comes to cancer. So I would say to anybody faced with that, that choice is way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do and to really consider the advancements we've made in things like nutrition and stress levels."

Jolie's boyfriend Brad Pitt certainly doesn't mind the decision, calling it "absolutely heroic."

The actor says he's friends with Etheridge, but affirmed that he disagreed with the logic behind her statements.