Actor Jon Voight said that he didn’t find out about his daughter Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy until Tuesday, when the world read the news in her New York Times oped.
Voight told the New York Daily News that he “was as surprised as anyone” and respected the way Jolie told the public.
“My love and admiration for my daughter can't be explained in words. I saw her two days ago with my son Jamie. We all got together for his birthday, with her and Brad (Pitt). But I didn't know. It wasn't obvious at all. I found out (Tuesday) morning,” the veteran actor explained. “I was as surprised as anyone and deeply moved by the way she’s handled this.”
Voight added, “She’s a very extraordinary person, the way she examined it and what she shared.”
Voight and Jolie did have a falling out in 2001, when she accused him of cheating on her mother, Marcheline Bertrand. They have since reconciled, but Voight said he did respect her recent decision to keep the surgery a secret from everyone.
“I completely understand. I want the focus to be on the inspiration,” he said.
Jolie revealed that she had a double mastectomy in a New York Times oped that has been widely praised. The move will reduce her chance of getting breast cancer to 5 percent. People is also reporting that she does plan to have her ovaries removed since, as she wrote, she has a 50 percent chance of getting ovarian 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,” Brad 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.”