It wasn't just that a supernova movie star had her breasts surgically removed to improve her chances of not getting breast cancer. It was how Angelina Jolie — a woman who is rarely without a paparazzi scrum in pursuit — was able to do it in secret, and then announce it on her own terms.

This never happens. Until Tuesday.

The next shock was how the news went over with people who love her, people who loathe her, or people who up until yesterday didn't give a fig about her.

In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY just hours after his fiancee went public, mega movie star Brad Pitt said he's 'quite emotional about it, of course.' He went on to say why her coming forward was important. 'It doesn't have to be a scary thing. In fact, it can be an empowering thing, and something that makes you stronger and us stronger.'
That strength was lauded in the world of social media, a place where comments can sometimes be soul-destroying. A surge of sympathy, respect and 'well-dones' poured onto Twitter, praising Jolie, 37, for her guts, grace and candor in announcing her elective surgery and why she had it, in an op-ed piece in the Tuesday New York Times.

She invoked her mother who died of ovarian cancer, the woman who would never live to meet some of Jolie's children. 'We often speak of 'Mommy's mommy,' ' she wrote, 'and I find myself trying.