Melissa Etheridge shared her opinion on Angelina Jolie's preventative double mastectomy in a recent interview with the Washington Blade.

A breast cancer survivor herself, the musician answered a question about the actress' choice, saying, "I have to say I feel a little differently. I have that gene mutation too and it’s not something I would believe in for myself.”

Seeing the decision in a different light, Ms. Etheridge continued, "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. It’s the stress that will turn that gene on or not.”

Encouraging people to think carefully, the 52-year-old songstress explained, "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."

Finally, hoping to inspire others with her own story, Melissa concludes, "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. I really encourage people to go a lot longer and further before coming to that conclusion.”