Wedding plans as Brad Pitt calls Angelina Jolie 'heroic' after double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer Actress Angelina Jolie has revealed she had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer, so decided to remove them. ACTOR Brad Pitt has praised his fiancee Angelina Jolie as "heroic" after she revealed she had undergone a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer. 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," Pitt told the Evening Standard. 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. Angelina Jolie and the article every woman should read Jolie praised her fiance for being "loving and supportive," and a source told MailOnline: "Angie is keen on a wedding and the kids are clamouring for a marriage and keep asking Brad and Angie when it's happening. 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 couple have been engaged since 2011. "They are all for all intents and purposes married, but it's become clear that it's important to them to make it official," the source told the Daily Mail. Brad Pitt has called fiancee Angelina Jolie "heroic" and said it was "a happy day for our family" after she revealed her double mastectomy. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she was shocked to hear of Jolie's double mastectomy but praised her and hoped it would encourage more women to get their breasts examined. Celebrities and breast cancer groups also praised Jolie for her "courageous" decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy and share her story, saying her openness could save lives by leading to a surge in women being tested for the cancer gene. Breast cancer survivor Kylie Minogue called Jolie "inspirational," tweeting: "Thank you for sharing your story and helping women around the world. #inspirational." Musician and breast cancer survivor Sheryl Crow tweeted: "I commend Angelina Jolie for her courage and thoughtfulness in sharing her story today regarding her mastectomy. So brave! Ladies, please check out Angelina Jolie's story today, especially if you have breast cancer in your family. E! host Giuliana Rancic, also a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy after treatment, tweeted: "Proud of her for using her incredible platform to educate women." Hunger Games actor Elizabeth Banks also praised Jolie, tweeting: "Much respect & for sharing in classy way." Stars and breast cancer groups have praised actor Angelina Jolie after she revealed she has undergone a double mastectomy after testing positive for a cancer gene. My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos said: "A moment of quiet respect for Angelina Jolie's candor and all women's bravery in facing this choice," prompting Oscar winner Marlee Matlin to agree: "Brave, honest and strong. Angelina Jolie gets a double mastectomy. Agree with @ninavardalos - quiet respect for her. Matlin later shared an inspiring Jolie quote: "Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of. Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell called her "admirable," while Rosie O'Donnell wrote: "bravo Angelina for sharing ur truth!" The news has alreadly prompted CNN anchor Zoraida Sambolin to announce she has breast cancer and is getting a double mastectomy. Sambolin, who anchors CNN's Early Start morning show, talked about her condition on the show while discussing Jolie's decision. Q&A: Jolie's preventative double mastectomy Punch Breaking Views: Jolie an inspiration Jolie said her mother Marcheline Bertrand's decade-long battle with cancer helped her decide a double mastectomy was the best move for her family. Breast Cancer Network of Australia chief executive Maxine Morand said whenever a high profile identity was diagnosed with the disease or got behind the breast cancer prevention cause it leads to a surge in women seeking testing. Roughly 15,000 women in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and 5-10 per cent of those cases are the result of an inherited genetic mutation, she said. "BCNA thanks Angelina Jolie for speaking out on her very personal experience, and hopes it will help other women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer to consider their options," Ms Morand said. New surgery options in breast cancer fight Jolie - whose mother Marcheline Bertrand died in 2007 at the age of 56 after battling ovarian cancer - made the decision to have both of her healthy breasts removed, after discovering that she had the BRCA1 cancer gene. Pictures: Angelina Jolie through the years Writing in the New York Times, Jolie, 37, explained her reasons for undergoing the complex surgery. Angelina Jolie said partner Brad Pitt was with her every step of the way, and that the ordeal had brought them closer together. "My doctors estimated that I had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman," she explains in the article entitled My Medical Choice. $55 million in Budget 2013 for breast cancer awareness Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimise the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex. On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work. Jolie, 37, writes that she made the choice with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actor Marcheline Bertrand, die too young from cancer. "My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," Jolie writes. 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. She writes that, "They have asked if the same could happen to me." Actress Angelina Jolie on May 14, 2013. AP Photo/Carlo Allegri Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene and had an 87 per cent chance of getting the disease herself. She said she has kept the process private so far, but wrote about it with hopes of helping other women. I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie writes. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent. Jolie - who has children Maddox, 11, Pax, nine, Zahara, eight, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with fiance Brad Pitt - praised her partner for his love and support throughout the procedure, and said that her children were one of the main reasons she had the surgery. "I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer," she said. It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Centre, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has. She is anything but private in the details she provides, giving a description of the procedures. "My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a 'nipple delay,'" she writes, "which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area." She then describes the major surgery two weeks later where breast tissue was removed, saying it felt "like a scene out of a science-fiction film," then writes that nine weeks later she had a third surgery to reconstruct the breasts and receive implants." Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie. Colon cancer survivor Sharon Osbourne underwent a preventive double mastectomy when she learned she had tested positive for the gene. Actor Christina Applegate and E! host Rancic both publicly revealed they underwent a double mastectomy after beating breast cancer. "I do not feel any less of a woman," Jolie writes. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity. Bertrand, Jolie's mother, died in January 2007. She had small roles in the movies Lookin' to Get Out in 1982 and The Man Who Loved Women in 1983. She raised Jolie and her brother after divorcing their father, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, when Jolie was a toddler. Jolie has appeared in dozens of films including 2010's The Tourist and Salt, the Tomb Raider films, and 1999's Girl, Interrupted, for which she won an Academy Award. But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her power coupling with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.