Just hours before a Tuesday afternoon interview with USA TODAY, his partner Angelina Jolie revealed in a New York Times op-ed that she has undergone a double mastectomy and reconstruction after learning she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation, which doctors estimated gave her an 87% chance of developing breast cancer.

How is Pitt feeling? “I’m quite emotional about it, of course,” said the World War Z star. “She could have stayed absolutely private about it and I don’t think anyone would have been none the wiser with such good results. But it was really important to her to share the story and that others would understand it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. In fact, it can be an empowering thing, and something that makes you stronger and us stronger.”

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“This is a happy day for our family,” the star says.

Brad Pitt has issued a statement to London’s Evening Standard on partner Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a double mastectomy.

“Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as many others like her, absolutely heroic,” Pitt said in the statement. “I thank our medical team for their care and focus.”

“All I want is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children,” Pitt continued. “This is a happy day for our family.”

In a New York Times op-ed story written by Angelina Jolie and titled My Medical Choice, the star, 37, explained that she spent the last three months undergoing and recovering from a double mastectomy.

Jolie, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer, writes, “My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87% to under 5%,” Jolie writes. “I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”

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When I met Brad Pitt the day after Easter, he was so tired that he was perhaps more reflective than usual. He had just finished a week of spring break with his family. He had camped out with them the night before on his property north of Santa Barbara, and he had woken up, he said, too early, as well as too wet. They had slept in tents, four of his six children, along with two of their friends, and then he had gotten all of them in a van and driven them down to LA.

“Angie too?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Angie too.”

I told him that I’d met her a few years before, when I profiled her for Esquire. She was making a movie about the wife of the murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, and the thesis of my story was that while 9/11 was supposed to make us all better — a better country and a better people — it only worked for Angelina Jolie. The story has won a kind of immortality as “The Worst Celebrity Profile Ever Written,” and when I told that to Angelina Jolie’s partner, he at first laughed and said that he hoped Esquire would use that as the title of the profile I was writing about him. Then he got serious. “But you were right,” he said. “You were right, you were right. Angie is….the best person…..”

Read more. Tom Junod’s profile of Brad Pitt will appear in the June/July issue of Esquire, which is on newsstands at the end of the month.

MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. 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.

We 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.

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize 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.

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FYI. You can also visit Breastcancer.org and The American Cancer Society to learn more and perhaps donate.

When rumors began swirling that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt intended to have live elephants as part of their wedding celebration, PETA wasn’t buying it—after all, the couple had donated $2 million to an African wildlife sanctuary. A rep confirmed to us that Angelina and Brad have no intention of showcasing captive wild animals at their celebration and encouraged PETA to dispel the nasty rumor.

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In case you rung in the new year by avoiding all entertainment-related news, a quick recap on breaking Hollywood developments: Hugh Hefner has married a woman 60 years his junior; Kim Kardashian is pregnant with Kanye West’s baby and is celebrating with suspected fro-yo photo ops; Russell Crowe is valiantly fielding criticism of his Les Misérables performance on Twitter; and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may have legalized their reign as the world’s most genetically perfect couple with a wedding. About the latter item, which has mutated into hundreds of “Are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Married?”–variant headlines on the Internet today…

Read more. So yeah, just a rumor guys. Unless stated otherwise by trustworthy sources in the near future.

Earlier today, movie hunk Brad Pitt talked to ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas on “Good Morning America” where he opened up about aging, fatherhood and touched on his new movie “World War Z”.

When talking about how everything changing when he became a father, he said, “It turns everything on its head. I love it. I love it.”

Brad spoke of how he and Angelina Jolie ensure that their children have as much normalcy in their lives as possible. He referred to his homes as “base camps” saying that they do spend time in New Orleans, but have a base camp in Los Angeles because they both work there a lot. He also said that they are looking to establish a European base camp because their children won’t be hounded there due to their strict paparazzi laws regarding photographing children.

He said, “They get more sense of normalcy there. We’re not as hounded at certain places there. France, especially. They have rules about shooting kids — photographing kids. I think they’re more sensitive to it after the Diana incident. They [the French] think they’re as cool as anyone else. We’re not being bothered there.”

With regard to aging, he said that he has already thought about what it’s going to be like turning 50-years-old next year. He said, “I’ve given a lot of thought to it. You become very aware of time. I think also being a father, you become very – everything’s time allocation for me now…spending my time wisely and doing the things that are important to me.”

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You might wonder, what’s it like being in the same room as one of the most famous people on earth?

Actually, very normal. Once you get past Brad Pitt’s very necessary layers of security, the guy is friendly and very relaxed. And like many of us, he has dubious TV-viewing habits.

When told that this reporter had issues with her toddler son throwing tantrums, Pitt, who has six kids, nodded in sympathy.

“Sounds like you need to watch a few episodes of Super Nanny. It’s pretty good, by the way,” he says. “Speaking of which, have you seen the show I Was Impaled?The whole show is about being impaled. Literally, a fence post sticking out of your shoulder.”

So at home, who’s tougher, Pitt or his fiancee Angelina Jolie?

“I’m more of a disciplinarian with the boys. The girls do no wrong, of course. Mom’s a little more equal in her dishing,” he admits.

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While most Americans celebrated Thanksgiving with family on Thursday, Brad Pitt spent his holiday with zombies on the set of World War Z in London.

“I didn’t know it was Thanksgiving until like midday. Until [the] afternoon,” he told PEOPLE in an interview for the coming issue.

“When you’re overseas, they don’t celebrate it in England. And [Angelina Jolie] and some of the kids are overseas in Cambodia this week, working on the [The Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation] there,” he said. “It completely escaped me until someone brought me some English pumpkin pie.”

Even though Pitt, 48, went without the traditional turkey and stuffing this year, he didn’t seem to mind, saying, “That’s okay, last year we had a big meal and we don’t normally miss things twice.”

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At least, that seems to be the case for A-list supernovas Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt who, according to Ange, shared a tender moment together while watching Ewan McGregor’s performance in the upcoming film The Impossible.

Jolie hosted a special screening of the movie — which centers on a family dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami — in London Monday night where she gushed about McGregor.

“I have known you for years and you are one of my favorite actors and I’ve always loved to watch you, but I watched this and I didn’t recognize you,” Jolie told the Scottish actor. “To say it is one of the best performances of the year, really doesn’t give it credit, because it doesn’t feel like a performance. It’s from such an honest place and so deeply emotional.”

She went on to say that McGregor was so good, in fact, that he moved both she and her fiancé Brad Pitt to tears.

“You rarely see this emotion from a man on screen and I called (McGregor) later to tell him how much he made me cry,” she added. “I was crying, and I looked over at Brad and he was crying. It’s just really, really powerful. As an actor, I’m in awe.”

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Hey, my name’s Doug – ice to meet you.

I WAS late this morning because I was out partying with Doug Pitt. THE Doug Pitt. And we weren’t actually partying.
The star of Virgin Mobile’s brilliant ‘Fair Go Bro’ bro-motion, Doug’s a case of life beginning to imitate art.

He’s actually, kinda, like, a pretty big deal now. Ask your friends.

The red carpet was literally rolled out in Sydney last night for Brad Pitt’s brother, who, in true star style, came late and left early.

Fake paps snapped and clicked and asked me who I was wearing.

“Ah……. orange?”

He popped in and made an appearance. Last night, Doug Pitt wasn’t the nerdy dad from Missouri with three teenagers and a computer shop and a really, really famous brother. Last night, he was THE Doug Pitt.

Read more. Also another interview. Personally I am not really interested in this whole Virgin/Doug stuff but it is family news so yea.

Four-year-old Vivienne Jolie-Pitt is making her movie debut alongside her famous mom.

Walt Disney Studios says Angelina Jolie’s youngest daughter will play a “minor role” in “Maleficent,” in which Jolie plays the title character. Vivienne is set to play a young Princess Aurora, who grows up to be evil Maleficent’s target in the live-action “Sleeping Beauty” tale.

Production on the film began in London in June. “Maleficent” is set to hit theaters in March of 2014.

No word if Vivienne’s twin brother, Knox, is working on a movie career of his own.

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Thanks also Gabriella & Anu.

“It’s a little surreal,” he said of the attention the viral ad has brought him, “but it’s fun. This whole campaign was to be tongue-in-cheek and have fun and luckily, it’s hit its mark.”

The ad focuses on the “normality” of Doug Pitt’s life (he runs a family computer business), as compared to his famous older brother’s, though it wasn’t shot in his actual home. He said he had no idea the ad would go viral, and that he hadn’t even told many people he did it — but gave his brother a heads-up.

“I did call him and said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ and he said, ‘Do it, sounds great!’” After the ad came out and Brad had a chance to check it out, he texted Doug: “Hey, just saw it — hilarious.” “I was pleased,” said Doug.

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