Folk musician Melissa Etheridge overcame breast cancer in 2005. She recently told the Washington Blade newspaper that Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy was "fearful" and not courageous at all.

Brad Pitt responded tongue-in-cheek.

Doctors had famously warned the international movie star, Jolie, that the 38-year-old mom and wife to Brad Pitt, had an 87 percent chance of acquiring breast cancer.

So Jolie had a double mastectomy, which many in the media have applauded her for being courageous, since Jolie's otherworldly figure was--at least partially--part of her success on the large screen.

Etheridge did not think the decision to have the mastectomy prematurely was very courageous and sounded off on Jolie to the paper.

"I wouldn't call it the brave choice. I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer. My belief is that cancer comes from inside you and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body."

So Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy, savagely cutting off her own breasts in an effort to stave off the very real risk of breast cancer, and Melissa Etheridge says it's not a brave choice.

Etheridge continued:

"It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything but it never comes to cancer so I would say to anybody faced with that, that choice is way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do and to really consider the advancements we've made in things like nutrition and stress levels.

Etheridge goes on to say, "I've been cancer free for nine years now and looking back, I completely understand why I got cancer. There was so much acidity in everything."

Jolie famously revealed her decision to have the preventative surgery in a New York Times op-ed piece in May, with many celebrities and friends praising her for being courageous in the face of such an awful illness.

Just two weeks after Jolie wrote the piece, Jolie's aunt died of breast cancer at the age of 61.

People Magazine is reporting that when Brad Pitt was told of Etheridge's comments in the piece from last week right before he hit the red carpet to support his new film World War Z, Pitt responded

"Melissa's an old friend of mine. I'm sure we'll talk on the phone. I don't know what it is."

Etheridge and Pitt are actually friends with Etheridge performing at Pitt's wedding to Jennifer Aniston in 2000.

After Pitt broke off his marriage to Aniston, he quickly took up with his Mr & Mrs. Smith co-star. There were even rumors the pair had a dalliance on set while he was still married to Aniston.

But Pitt also said he finds the mother of his children to be "Sexy as ever," despite the surgery.

Etheridge might not agree, believing the choice to have the surgery was "fear" instead of bravery.