After recently undergoing a double mastectomy to limit her chances of developing breast cancer, Angelina Jolie was sought out as a hero for her actions but there is one person who is not agreeing with everyone.
According to Radar Online, Melissa Etheridge shared her thoughts about Jolie's decision with The Washington Blade.
"I have to say, I feel a little differently," the singer. "I have that gene mutation too, and [a preventative double mastectomy is] not something I would believe in for myself."
Jolie announced she had the BRCA-1 gene, which gave her an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer so in order to reduce the risk, she underwent a double mastectomy.
Etheridge is a cancer survivor. In 2004, the 52-year old singer was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I wouldn't call [having a preventative mastectomy] a brave choice," Etheridge said. "I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer."
Etheridge believes 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," she 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."
After being cancer free for nearly nine years, she looked back at the situation.
"I completely understand why I got cancer," she said. "There was so much acidity in everything. I really encourage people to go a lot longer and further before coming to that conclusion."
