When Angelina Jolie revealed that she'd had a preventive double mastectomy, she praised her fiancé, Brad Pitt, for standing by her throughout the ordeal. Now he's speaking out in support of Jolie.

"Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie's choice, as well as so many others like her[s], absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus," he told the U.K.'s Evening Standard. "All I want for her is to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family."

Jolie, 37, explained in a New York Times op-ed that she'd opted for the double mastectomy after learning that she carried the BRCA1 gene, which could dramatically increase her risk for breast and ovarian cancers. After her own mother died of ovarian cancer in 2007, the decision to undergo such radical surgery was "not easy, but it is one I am very happy I made," she wrote in her Times op-ed.

"My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent," she wrote. "I can tell my children they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."

For more information about BRCA gene testing, click here.

(Photo credit: Amy Sancetta/AP)