Brad and Angelina faked photo storm rocks US tabloids

by Joe Lepper, Brand Republic 29-Apr-05, 09:00

LONDON - A bitter tabloid war in the US over rumours of a burgeoning relationship between movie stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turned ugly this week, as Star magazine published faked pictures of the two to scupper a $1m exclusive by rival US Weekly.

US Weekly has reportedly paid between $500,000 to $1m for the exclusive US rights of actual paparazzi photographs, already published in The Sun, of the couple together on a beach in Africa.

But the magazine has been left furious after the Star's front page this week featured a photograph of the couple strolling on the beach together. However, the picture is a composite of two different pictures simply cut and pasted together.

Despite the headline "Brad & Angelina Caught Together! On Vacation", the Star front page declines to mention that the photo of Pitt was taken in the Caribbean, while the Jolie picture was taken a year ago on a beach in Virginia.

The Star does not admit the photos are fake until page 46 and even that is in small print.

According to the rumour mill, Pitt and Jolie's romance started on the set last year of 'Mr and Mrs Smith', which is released in June. Stories have escalated following the actor's break-up with wife Jennifer Aniston four months ago and the pair are heading for the divorce courts.

The tabloid press on both sides of the Atlantic have been full of speculative stories about a relationship between the two, which have been consistently denied.

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