WDYT? Melissa Etheridge speaks on Angelina's mastectomy choice.

tawillers

Snippet:

"Singer and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge is standing by her comments that actress Angelia Jolie was "fearful" and not "brave" for undergoing a double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer.

"I don't have any opinion of what she 'should have' done. All are free to choose. I only objected to the term 'brave' describing it," Etheridge said in a statement to ABC News.

Last week, Etheridge told the Washington Blade that Jolie "made 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," Etheridge told the newspaper.

Etheridge, who was diagnosed with the same high risk BRCA gene mutation as Jolie, goes on in the interview to say that Jolie's choice is "... way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do" and that those faced with the same set of facts should "really consider the advancements we've made in things like nutrition and stress levels." "

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/melissa-etheridge-stands-fearful-jolie-comments/story?id=19430484#.UcGlXoIo7IU

6fsn

It's always easy to say what someone else should do.  Does Etheridge have a gaggle of young kids at home?  Does she have the details of Jolie's medical history?  Why was she even asked about it?  Why take the time to respond?

PirateBarbie

tawillers said:

Etheridge, who was diagnosed with the same high risk BRCA gene mutation as Jolie, goes on in the interview to say that Jolie's choice is "... way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do" and that those faced with the same set of facts should "really consider the advancements we've made in things like nutrition and stress levels." 

Ok Dr. Etheridge....

I think someone is just trying to get free press. When's the last time you ever heard anyone mention Melissa Etheridge?

tawillers

I just think it was a shitty thing to do/say.  She claims to have no opinion when clearly she does.  I think she was way out of line and should have just wished her the best.

mrsconn23

i2i Barbie. 

Ms. Etheridege needs to STFU.

pesematology

She did something scary, by choice, for a good reason. That sounds brave to me.

GBCK

Anyone who preaches diet and exercise as a 'cure' for cancer is well on their way to self-righteous and judgmental shithead.

(because it always includes the implication of "so it's X person's FAULT they got cancer--because they didn't eat right and had negative thoughts and all that jazz")

I will say, I don't love "she's so brave" as the descriptor--because...I dunno, it smacks me the same way that being told "you're so brave" for anything that's just doing what you do does.  I mean, someone rushing into a burning building is brave.  Someone doing the day to day of what they have to do and soldiering on doesn't fall into that same category of brave.

^that sounds bitchier than I intend it--because it's not meant to be a criticism of what Angelina Jolie did, as much as a criticism of the descriptor used to describe it.

And, in the world of Hollywood where what she looks like is her livelihood, having the surgery is a bigger deal than if I were to have it (because no one cares that much about my boobs). (of course, flip side to that, I don't have the $ for a nanny and top of the line reconstruction and the best doctors money can buy, so it might be a bigger deal for me to have it.)  

Regardless, Melissa etheridge comes off as condescending and judgmental and ill-informed/anti-science.

dharmabunny

I'll admit, I really do think ME has a point, and i am completely annoyed with the AJ's soooo brave nonsense. Fine, her body, her choice, but dont' parade around bodily mutilation of WOMEN (i dont see prophylactic prostate or testicle removal being presented as an option for men) as the brave/saintly option for the cancer boogeyman. Hacking off breasts are not like whacking off moles.

But then she had to go ruin the whole damn thought with Dr Ethridge, cancer specialist MD, PhD, CCRP, Esq., Pontiff Maginificent.

ReturnOfKuus

Melissa Etheridge is a complete moron who happened onto a good point (that preventative masectomies aren't really all that effective, and just make people feel better about the risk).

PMeg819

Melissa Etheridge might want to try the "stress and nutrition" cause BS on a few 30 yos with Stage IV cancer and see how that goes.

hmonkey

she was just trying to rid her body of toxins.

Heffalump

PMeg819 said:

Melissa Etheridge might want to try the "stress and nutrition" cause BS on a few 30 yos with Stage IV cancer and see how that goes.

That was my thought as well, more or less.  I'm tired of people who have no idea what they're talking about gaining an audience for their random thoughts packaged as scientific truth. 

PirateBarbie

this is essentially Jenny McCarthy and "Vaccines cause Autism" all over again. 

washed up D-list "celebrity" just trying to get attention. 

Dreamsofrain

My only issue with Jolie's decision is, it is easy for a multi million dollar celebrity to get a preventive double mastectomy and then get the finest fake boobs money can buy. Do Insurance companies pay for boob jobs for a person that does not have cancer? If not, then she is not brave, just privileged.

PMeg819

Reconstructive surgery is not the same as cosmetic surgery, so yes they are covered. That said, the decision to cover a prophylactic mastectomy varies between insurance carriers and plans.

HisGirlFriday13

And with this, Melissa Etheridge joins Jenny McCarthy on my list of "Do you have a medical degree? No? Then sit yo' ass down and shut your fucking mouth about things you don't know jackshit about, asshole."

You're a fucking celebrity, and a B-list celebrity at that; nobody gives a rat's ass about what you think.

VarunaTT

I was actually on board w/the criticism that ME leveled.  I'm a huge fan of them both.  While I admired AG for talking about her decision/procedures, she has openly stated (after criticism like what ME has stated) that conversations needs to be had about the entire spectrum of choices available to women and how to make sure all of those choices are available to all women.  She has, in other interviews about this, acknowledged her privilege in this matter; she is using her celebrity to draw attention to an issue.  

Then, when ME said where she thinks cancer comes from?  That made her look incredibly stupid and negated the entire criticism she had made.

ME does have kids with her former partner, I think 2 or 3, however they are not as young as AGs are (she is older than AG by quite a bit as well, I believe).  She is a breast cancer survivor and has given quite a bit to cancer research (I think everything from "Run for Life" still goes to research).