Angelina Jolie’s Surgeon Praises Her for Embracing Mastectomy Scars: ‘Healing Most People Never See’

Angelina Jolie’s surgeon, Dr. Kristi Funk, is commending her for her comments about her 2013 double mastectomy.

The acclaimed actress, 50, told French Inter earlier this month that the scars from the surgery — which she underwent after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene, signifying an increased risk of breast cancer — “are a choice I made to stay here as long as I could with my children.”

“❤️‍🩹 I was her surgeon. I made those scars,” Funk wrote on Instagram on February 13.

“Hearing her now call them a ‘Choice’ — because they mean Life — reveals the full circle of healing most people never see,” Funk penned on the platform. “When I first met Angie, she made a brave, deeply personal decision — one that would forever change her body, but also give her a near-guarantee of a breast cancer–free life.”

“Scars are not disfigurements — they are choices to survive, made visible,” Funk added. “They tell stories of courage, love, and second chances. 💪🏼.”

In the Maleficent star’s interview with French Inter, she admitted, “I’ve always been someone more interested in the scars and the life that people carry.”

“I’m not drawn to some perfect idea of a life that has no scars,” she continued. “I see my scars are a choice I made to do what I could do to stay here as long as I could with my children. I love my scars because of that.”

The Oscar winner — who shares six children with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt — also noted she was “grateful” she could be “proactive” with her health.

“I lost my mom when I was young, and I’m raising my children without a grandmother,” she added, referring to how her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, passed away from cancer in 2007.