Brad Pitt’s mother has expressed her approval and support for Angie’s decision to undergo the double mastectomy as a preventive measure for breast cancer.
“We’re so very proud of Angie, this means so much to our family especially our grandchildren. We love her dearly,” Jane Pitt said in a statement on Tuesday.
The New York Times published an op-ed by Jolie, in which she describes her difficult choice to have her breast removed after genetic tests showed her to have an 87 percent chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer at 56 in 2007.
As a Southern Baptist, Brad Pitt’s mother has made headlines last year in writing an op-ed urging Christians to vote for Mitt Romney over Obama, who, she says, “Supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”
According to In Touch Weekly, Jane Pitt has purchased a Bible as a wedding gift to her son and her future daughter-in-law Jolie last July, although Jolie has not declared a faith, and has taught Buddhism to her son Maddox.
“It was a special wedding fit,” Kris Burnett, the salesperson who sold Jane Pitt the Bible, tells In Touch. “We prayed with Brad’s mom and sister over the Bible, asking the Lord to lead the way in Brad and Angelina’s life.”
The Bible, purchased a Mardel Christian & Education, cost about $130 and had the name “Angelina” embossed on the cover.
Although Pitt was raised an evangelical Baptist, he has said in the past that he rejected faith in his university years, according to The Telegraph.
He has recently starred in the Tree of Life, a film with a Christian narrative that was nominated for Best Picture in the 84th Academy Awards and manifested the purpose of life – love, death, hate, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
However, Pitt gave his own stance toward religion. In an interview with Time magazine, he said that although he was struck by the spirituality of the film and the peace he can find through it, he is not fond of religion.
"I'd say that 'Tree of Life' is not a Christian so much as a spiritual film," he said. "I was surprised, watching it last night, how powerfully it struck me. What the film was saying to me is that there is an unexplained power; there is this force. And maybe peace can be found, but not by trying to explain it with the religion. Maybe there's peace to be found just in that acceptance of the unknown.”
Pitt didn’t go in depth about Christianity, saying, “I got my issues; I can't talk about it without getting a little bit hot. It's probably not best for me to talk about that.”
Pitt said in an interview with Extra he appreciates the film director Terrence Malick’s embrace of Christianity and other religions without pulling out the “textbook definition of Christianity.” Malick is director of “The Tree of Life.”
“You're looking at a man who loves science, and has an interpretation and a feeling for God. In America, those two things usually don't coincide. And yet he sees the two as one: he sees God in science and science in God,” Pitt said.
