Well, this is surprising. It looks like Grandpa Jon Voight was invited to Venice to spend some time with the Jolie-Pitt family. Voight and his daughter Angelina have long been estranged since 2002 (when he publicly questioned her mental health just a few months after she adopted Maddox). Although… Angelina has said in a few interviews over the past two years that she and her dad are trying to work on their stuff privately. I didn’t really believe her - I thought she was just basically saying “I’ll speak to him when he’s burning in hell” but apparently they really were talking. At least enough for Jon to show up in Venice and spend time on a public outing with the kids.
Unfortunately, the photo agency we have access to (INF) doesn’t have the money shot of Angelina with her dad in the same frame, which you can see here. But we do have photos of Jon with Brad and Zahara, in which Jon is looking pretty pleased with himself, and pretty pleased that there are cameras around. I can’t help it, I still the guy is batsh-t insane, and at the very least, a very emotionally abusive man.
You can also see Empress Zahara, Shiloh (I think) and Pax in these photos. The Empress seems to be giving Grandpa Vought a “WTF?” look which I think sums up the situation. But she also looks very happy - thrilled even - to be back on the water. The Empress is seriously loving Venice… that must be where she plans to launch her benevolent but all-powerful queendom.
Angelina, Brad, Jon Voight and the kids in Venice on February 21, 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com.
When we were all sitting around yesterday playing the new game “Guess the Mystery Jolie-Pitt Child” (I still say it’s Fax Cannes Jolie-Pitt, by the way), it looks like we were all being played. Played, I tell you. Because we were doing exactly what The Gerbils Wanted. The Gerbils wanted us to look at cute photos of the Jolie-Pitt family out and about in Venice because those photos just add to the collective delusion that Brad and Angelina are still together. Because they’re not!!! Because it’s all a huge conspiracy to discredit all of the sources saying that they’re no more, so they show up together all the time, and then the jokes is on us, right? Whatever. I can’t keep up with the logic of all of it. There is no logic. But that that doesn’t stop Page Six from trying to discredit The Gerbils:
Those happy family photo ops in Venice are being staged “like a military operation” to quash reports that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are splitting, sources said. The pair, who have vehemently denied a rift, have been seen daily as a family unit in the romantic Italian city, where Jolie is filming “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp.
A spy said, “They are usually very shy about being photographed, but now they’re making a point of being seen in public as a happy family unit. They’re making a statement. They want the world to know the reports are wrong and they are strong.”
You know who has consistently used that phrasing - “like a military operation”? Ian Halperin. My guess is that Halperin is Page Six’s “spy”. That being said, I would imagine the only way to do anything with six children is have everything run like a military operation. I have no idea how Brad and Angelina aren’t wandering around, covered in feathers and jam and cookie dust, wondering whether they lost the Empress Zahara in Cambodia or Pakistan.
Jolie-Pitts in Venice on February 18 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com. Also, on February 16, credit: STLA/Fame Pictures.
Who is this child? INF identifies he/she as Knox, but they might just be guessing. Doesn’t this kid look too big for a one-and-half year old? Maybe Knox is rangy and lanky. Maybe it’s Shiloh with darker hair. Except that the kid doesn’t look like Shiloh, really. There’s a vague resemblance, probably because this kid is wearing little boy’s clothes, just like Shiloh. Most gossipsites are going with INF’s identification that this is in fact Knox. In which case, sure. I’m still wondering if perhaps there some child chronologically in between Shiloh and the twins that we’ve somehow missed all of these years. Let’s call this one Fax Cannes Jolie-Pitt. Little Fax looks like he’s about two-and-a-half, right?
Of course little Fax wasn’t the only Jolie-Pitt child to make an outing in Venice today. The Empress has come out to greet her loyal Venetian subjects. And this is her greeting:
Jesus, I love this kid. I wonder what Brad said to her that got her to react this way. “No Daddy, I will throw you in the dungeon if you don’t shave!”
Brad, Angelina, Knox (maybe) and Her Majesty, the Empress in Venice on February 18, 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com.
Angelina Jolie’s strange neck phenomenon is the biggest story of the day, I swear to God. And I still don’t have a good answer for what’s going on, other than the simple fact that Angelina is a veiny, skinny bitch and that maybe all sorts of weird things pop up and out of her that I would find amazing. Us Weekly, of course, has a different view. They assembled a crack team of investigators/plastic surgeons to see if there was a better, more complicated answer to what the hell is going on in these photos. Their answer? Botox. And probably “some Gor-Tex injected into her face”. And a “mini-facelift”. And nothing, just having less than 10% body fat. So… yeah… this crack team can’t agree either.
Angelina Jolie was photographed in Venice, Italy Wednesday afternoon with two protruding muscles where her chin meets her neck.
The photo was not altered, as Jolie, 34, sported the same facial protrusion at the BAFTA awards in February 2009.
UsMagazine.com consulted a number of plastic surgeons to find out what’s really going on because, as Beverly Hills-based Dr. Gabriel Chiu tells Us, “it’s unlikely that the banding can occur from strong facial muscles alone.”
Dr. Elie Levine, who has not treated Jolie, says that it appears she’s “received Botox to her face and likely her neck” because she shows “no wrinkles along the sides of her eyes (the crow’s feet) despite that very large smile… and her forehead is smooth.”
Botox paralyzes muscles, causing one to “recruit other muscles that are not regularly used to twisting the neck and smiling widely” to compensate, he adds.
Dr. Chiu believes Jolie may have had a “minimally invasive procedure” — such as Gore-Tex injected into her face — to lift and suspend “the tissues in her neck, jaw line and lower face.”
Dr. Brian Glatt concurs. “Angelina appears to have had a procedure done to tighten her lower face, neck, and jaw line such as a mini or lower facelift,” he says.
If she had a mini-facelift, Dr. Andrew Jacano says the skin was not lifted far enough back.
“Think of it like making your bed,” he says. “If you don’t pull the sheets tight enough, they’ll appear wrinkled and bunched at the corners.”
But Dr. Lyle M. Back believes Jolie has not received any cosmetic surgery. He credits the protrusion to Jolie’s “very thinned out skin — tented and pulled over the edge of the angle of her jaw” as the result of her having less than 10 percent body fat.
“Body builders love to employ a variety of techniques to get their skin looking this thin so that the judges can actually see the striations and fiber lines in their muscles through their skin,” he adds.
Eh, I guess I could buy the Botox argument. I’ve noticed that some of the women who get that done do look like they’re going to bust something as they try to move their face (cough cough Courtney Cox cough). Perhaps Angelina was using a weird muscle to move her face because of the freeze. I don’t honestly know, but I do think the most absurd statement is that Dr. Levine’s, about how Angelina doesn’t have any wrinkles. She has wrinkles! She has crow’s feet and laugh lines and all of it. She just has good skin, so the wrinkles look fine. Here’s a photo of Angelina from December… look at her eyes and mouth, there are fine lines.
Angelina, Brad and Pax in Venice on February 17, 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com. Angelina on December 30, 2009, credit: Fame Pictures.
Here are some new(er) photos of the Brangelina clan (just Angelina, Brad and Pax) out and about in Venice on Wednesday, where we saw them on Tuesday. It looks like they’re going to be settled there for a little while, as Angelina begins filming on The Tourist. Italian sources have them staying in Venice for three months, but that seems like too long. Other sources also claim that they’re staying at “the Palazzo, a gorgeous home located between Rialto, and Accademia in Venice, overlooking San Toma.” Hmm… sounds nice.
Angelina’s already gotten some special highlights put in for her new role, but they look totally budget, like they came from one of those do-at-home kits with a gnarly comb applicator (a better photo of her new hair here). But what is really, really, REALLY bothering me is whatever the hell is happening to her jaw line in these photos:
What the hell is that? That’s like the weirdest vein/bone/muscle/dear-God-kill-the-monster sketchiness I’ve ever seen. And you know I like Angelina! It pains me to think that this is part of some weird plastic surgery or something like that. But I don’t even see how it could be part of some facelift or something? If it was a facelift, wouldn’t it be, like, a weird scar by her ear? This isn’t just some weird scar. I think this is just her ugly neck. Hollywood Life theorizes that it’s “an Angelina mask”. Which honestly might make more sense.
Note by Celebitchy: Although Hollywood Life notes that there are photos from at least two different agencies that show this strange protrusion near Angelina’s neck, many people are commenting that it’s a bad photoshop job. You can see the difference in the pixels on the skin right near the alien scar thing and her other skin. It looks like someone used the smudge and clone tool. There’s also a pigmentation difference between the two photos, where there’s a dark mark on her cheek in the bottom photo they show and no mark on the upper photo. It really looks like Photoshop. Sometimes the same photographer will sell pictures to different agencies so if this is the case it could be the work of one person. It could alternately be some kind of prosthetic for a role, if she’s actually filming now.
Angelina, Brad and Pax in Venice on February 17, 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com
Bow down before the Empress Zahara, for she has appeared in Venice! With her parents, of course. And her three oldest siblings, Pax, Maddox and Shiloh. Shiloh is rocking some kind of bear-cub monkey (?) hat that cracking me up. Meanwhile, the Empress wears an expression of “None of you are worthy of my presence, but thank you for the lovely gelato” on her adorable little face.
Fame Pictures notes: “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spent the day with their children on February 16, 2010 in Venice, Italy. Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh seemed to be enjoying the time spent with both of their parents as they were taken out for ice cream and a gondola ride through the city. The Jolie-Pitt clan strolled around with smiles all bundled up warm for their outing and Shiloh wore a cute monkey hat that kept her warm. The only ones missing are Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, Where are the twins?” I’ll tell you Fame, the twins will not deign to eat gelato, so shut the hell up, damn it.
Angelina, Brad, and the kids in Venice, credit: STLA/Fame Pictures.
What does the couple who has everything do for Valentine’s Day? Well, they hang out with Sean Penn (oh really?) and take the kids to Benihana. Hmm… that might be better than Britney Spears Valentine’s Day, but it’s still not what I would expect. Actually, they took the kids to Benihana on Friday night, and Life & Style has the details… including some stuff about Angelina’s love of shrimp! Epic:
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie put on a stunning display of togetherness when they took their three eldest children for a Valentine’s Day eve dinner at the Benihana restaurant that was a childhood haunt of Angie’s.
“Angie’s been coming in here since she was 2-years-old, an eyewitness at the restaurant tells Life & Style. “She’d come here with her parents and brother and loved to sit at the table and watch the chefs cook her shrimp.”
Bringing her own family recaptured fond memories for Angie.
“She came with Brad, Maddox, Pax and Zahara,” says the eyewitness. “She obviously took great joy in re-creating the experience of her childhood as the children enjoyed the spectacle of the food being cooked. They were all smiling and laughing.”
The chef prepared a Valentine’s Day treat by turning the kids’ vegetables into heart shapes, while Angie enjoyed her past favorite, shrimp with vegetables and edamame. Brad had Kobe beef.
“Brad and Angelina looked so happy,” a second witness tells Life & Style. “He stroked her neck and hand, and they kissed several times and looked on proudly as their kids used chopsticks and enjoyed their food.”
The family looked as happy as ever and, says the eyewitness, “completely in love.”
That’s nice I guess. I can’t imagine Empress Zahara enjoyed watching her food being prepared. Unless it was cookies. As for the Sean Penn rumors, that came from Us Weekly, who reported that Sean spent the whole day with the Brange at their LA home. There is absolutely no detail about what that’s all about, but I do not like that Brad and Sean hang out together. Sean is a horrible influence for Brad. Maybe they were discussing Madonna? You know Angelina can’t stand the Madge.
Angelina, Brad, Zahara and Shiloh in New York on December 29, 2009, and BP & AJ on January 6, 2010. Credit: CWNY/Fame Pictures.
Below is a brief clip of CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interviewing Angelina Jolie while Angelina was in Haiti earlier this week. All the clip really shows is Angelina’s denial that she and Brad are looking to adopt a Haitian baby, as was widely reported by the media. I guess because every time Angelina goes to another country, people are like “Oh my God adoption!” And, probably, that Life & Style cover story about “A Baby To Save Their Love” didn’t help, because Life & Style “exclusively revealed” that Brangelina has “decided to adopt baby No. 7, in what appears to be an attempt to save their relationship. ‘Angie is really happy with the state of the family, but yes, she wants more children,’ says an insider. ‘She’s ready to roll again.’”
In the short clip, Angelina actually doesn’t deny that she wants to adopt again in general, but only stated that “we’re not focusing on [that] at this time.” The whole quote is: ““I’m always open to children around the world. We’re that kind of a family; Brad and I talk about that. But that’s not what we’re focusing on at this time, by any means. We’re not here for that. We’re here to see how we can help protect the children in country and scale up the needs here.” This goes along with Angelina’s public statement several days ago about the concerns of Haitian orphans being trafficked: “New adoptions should definitely not be encouraged as an immediate response to the emergency. Haiti had many trafficking problems before the earthquake and now must keep a very close watch on the children. I would encourage as much support as possible to groups like SOS and UNICEF providing care for children in country.”
Screencap of Angelina Jolie, courtesy of CNN. Addition photo of Angelina, courtesy of UNHCR/Getty.
Apparently, for the most part the tabloids were not impressed with Brad and Angelina’s Super Bowl PDA. There was one exception, though. Life & Style’s cover story this week is all about Brangelina having a “baby to save their love”. Except not really, because Angelina’s not pregnant, and she probably won’t get pregnant while she’s filming some stunt-heavy action film in Europe over the next few months. But I guess they could adopt? Would an adopted baby “save their love” too?
Apparently when Angelina Jolie flew from LA to Miami, she ate a salad and an ice cream sundae, then watched Julie & Julia. Later she chatted up a fellow passenger and said: “I’m such a squishy mom. I really am just a squishy mom; I can’t wait to just be in bed hanging out with them.”
This anecdote, along with old quotes about “further additions” to the family, creates a “story” with the headline, “A Baby For Brad And Angelina!” The spread is illustrated with a photo of Angie, with her arms up, cheering! Of course, she is at the Super Bowl.
But since Brad recently purchased a house, the mag screams, “THEY’RE MAKING ROOM FOR MORE CHILDREN!” Was it only two weeks ago that this same mag L&S’s sister mag declared “Yes, It’s Over!”? In any case, this article notes that since Angie has to film “steamy thriller” The Tourist, which includes sex scenes with Johnny Depp, she won’t be getting pregnant right now. She might adopt, though!
Star Magazine claims in yet another story that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kissing and hugging at the Super Bowl was “all for show.” Body-language expert Toni Coleman says: “To me this feels contrived and exaggerated. You can tell these two are actors.”
I really don’t know if they’re planning for another child in the immediate future. My guess is that if they are, they probably will adopt, but you never know with them. And of course, given Angelina’s trip to Haiti, you know people are like “she’s going to adopt a Haitian baby!” In reality, though, Angelina warned against Haitian adoptions, because of concerns of human trafficking.
In additional “they’re working on their relationship” news, several blogs are buzzing with the story that Angelina spent $12,000 on a fancy olive tree for Brad’s Valentine’s Day gift. Get it? Olive tree… olive branch? Oh my God!
Yesterday we discovered that Angelina had flown straight from the Super Bowl in Miami to the Dominican Republic to meet with Haitian earthquake survivors and refugees. At first, I thought Angelina was just doing a day-long trip to the Dominican Republic, but she stayed on and traveled to Haiti, arriving in Port-au-Prince to view the earthquake damage first-hand, and to meet with more refugees and survivors living in-country. We still don’t have access to so many of the photos coming out of her trip, but PopEater has a great slideshow. UNHCR online also updated their site with comments Jolie made in-country, and there are more details about where she traveled and what issues she was focused on, including the Haitian SOS Children’s Village.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, February 9 (UNHCR) – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie arrived on Tuesday in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, where she visited earthquake survivors and met aid workers from local and international organizations.
Jolie, who said she was in Haiti to “listen and to learn,” visited medical centres, the UN mission and met with vulnerable children. On her arrival in the Haitian capital, Jolie was briefed by the United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General Edmond Mulet on the scale of the humanitarian operation to date and the challenges that remain.
She also visited a cash-for-work programme run by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the Carrefour district of Port-au-Prince, which is enabling Haitians to earn an income as they help their country to recover. “To give people the ability to work towards their own future is so important at this time. It helps to restore their hope and respects their dignity,” said Jolie.
The programme is assisting some 40,000 people with an aim of reaching more than 400,000. She commended the participants who told her they were happy to clean up their country and then sang her a song about Haitian pride.
In the Santo area of Port-au-Prince, Jolie visited SOS Children’s Villages, a worldwide programme to raise children inside their own countries. Since the earthquake, the organization has begun providing additional care for children who have been newly orphaned or who have lost contact with their parents as a result of the catastrophe. SOS is working to reunite children with their family members and will continue to care for those without any caregivers.
Jolie applauded their work, while stressing that “new adoptions should definitely not be encouraged as an immediate response to the emergency. Haiti had many trafficking problems before the earthquake and now must keep a very close watch on the children. I would encourage as much support as possible to groups like SOS and UNICEF providing care for children in country.”
The acclaimed actress also visited a tented hospital set up and run by UNHCR partner, Médecins Sans Frontières, in the commune of Delmas, also in Port-au-Prince. “I was struck by the strength and spirit of the Haitian people. Children as young as nine months old were coping with amputations with extraordinary resilience. I even met a little 10-year-old boy who had recently had his leg amputated, who was giggling to himself about a silly book as he sat on the floor,” Jolie revealed.
“These doctors are extraordinary,” she said. “For all the patients that had to have amputations there are also a high number of limbs and lives that the doctors have managed to save.”
“It will take years to rebuild Haiti,” Jolie said, after seeing the devastation from the January 12 earthquake. “Every day, the UN, governments, NGOs and local organizations are providing more people with protection, food, water, shelter and health care, yet the needs are still enormous and the displacement could last a decade.
“Providing adequate shelter to the displaced is of paramount importance, especially as the upcoming rainy season threatens to add to the devastation. Everyone is bracing themselves for a second wave of tragedy.”
Before arriving in Haiti, Jolie spent a day in the Dominican Republic, where she visited Haitian earthquake victims in the local public hospital and in nearby shelters. “I was heartened to see the care being provided by Dominican doctors and nurses and to witness the generosity of local society, which is caring for discharged patients and their families in their recovery,” she said.
While touring the SOS Children’s Village, the Haitian people began chanting “Angie! Angie!” apparently. In addition to that, the President of Haiti Children (Mercy and Sharing), Suzie Krabacher told Radar: “I think Angelina is an angel for visiting the area and bringing more attention to all the work that still needs to be done in Haiti and I wish her the greatest success.”
I get that there is a significant number of people who question Angelina’s motives as a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR. But she’s been at this for nine years, and at this point, if all she needed was a quick press hit, she would have found an easier way to get it rather than donating millions of dollars and spending the days, weeks and months putting her time and energy where her mouth and wallet are. To my mind, her motives are pure, and I think she does more good than harm for the UNHCR and for the SOS Children‘s Village program.
To donate to the SOS Children’s Village program, go here. To donate to the UNHCR, go here.
UPDATE: There’s a short video of Angelina in Haiti too:
