While many people have praised Angelina Jolie for her decision to undergo a double mastectomy surgery for preventative measures against cancer - of which she discovered she is at great risk due to a mutated gene - singer Melissa Etheridge is not one of them.

"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," the 52 year-old musician - who underwent five rounds of chemotherapy herself in 2005 - said in a recent interview.

The LGBT activist reasoned that there are other ways to avoid cancer: "[Having a double mastectomy] is way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do and [considering] the advancements we’ve made in things like nutrition and stress levels. 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. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything but it never comes to cancer. There was so much acidity in everything. I really encourage people to go a lot longer and further before coming to [Jolie's] conclusion."

Etheridge, who has been free of cancer for 9 years, is also an advocate of medicinal marijuana.

The rocker is currently on tour throughout the States.