In the new issue of Glamour, Angelina Jolie and Marianne Pearl speak candidly about how they became friends. After reading an interview with then single-mom Jolie, Pearl sent her a note asking her if she would like to have a playdate for their two boys, aged three at the time. Angelina says she was tentative about it, as she hates talking on the phone, but that she took Pearl up on her offer and they became fast friends.

Brad Pitt approached Pearl about making a film based on her book about her fallen journalist husband, Daniel Pearl, “A Mighty Heart.” Pitt wasn’t Jolie’s boyfriend at that point, and Pearl says it was an easy decision to go with Pitt’s production company as he was the only one who had pitched the idea and had actually read her book.

Jolie is playing Marianne Pearl’s role in the film amidst controversy over the fact that Jolie’s skin was darkened to more closely resemble Pearl, a light-skinned woman of color. Portraying Pearl on the day she learned that her husband was murdered by kidnappers was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jolie says:

Mariane Pearl: “One day a few years ago, I was alone in New York with Adam, still having a rough time [after Danny’s death]. I read an interview with Angie in a magazine, about her and Maddox and her life as a single mom. And I thought, this woman could be my friend…. I’d never experienced anything like that before in my life. It was something in her tone, in the answers that she gave. I felt also that Maddox and Adam [then both about three] could be good friends. So I sent her a note saying, do you want to have a playdate?”

Angelina Jolie: “And I, on the other side of it, had been aware of you through the time that everything went down. I remember being amazed by your courage and your grace…And when I got the note, I was thrilled. Later I realized that Mariane and I are the two worst people to plan a playdate in the history of playdates.”

Glamour: Why?

Angelina: “Because she hates the phone as much as I do. So it almost didn’t happen! But when it finally did, I remember being really nervous, thinking, she’s such an intelligent European woman—what are we going to do together? So we went to this serious, European, existential play—it seemed like the right thing [and it was supposed to be OK for kids]. But Adam and Mad got antsy, and finally halfway through, to each other’s relief, we were both like, do you want to get out of here? And we ran out and went back to Mariane’s place…”

Mariane: “We cooked pasta; it was actually good. And then we started talking about changing the world…”

Angelina: “…and about all the things we were passionate about. Her instincts were right—we did have so much in common. And all the kids are great friends now. Zahara is madly in love with Adam.”

Glamour: And was the movie a thought for either of you at that point?

Mariane: “…I had met with Brad separately about the movie, [but] he wasn’t connected at all with Angie at that time. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do a movie…Everybody was using terrorism for their own political agenda at that time, and really, this is a story about Danny. But when I met Brad –well, out of all the studios, he was the only one who had actually read the book!”…

Glamour: So Angelina, here you are, knowing Mariane, being friends with her—and then you take on this role. That must add a layer that doesn’t usually exist for an actress.

Angelina: “Yeah, and it’s horrible. I was so nervous! I mean, it’s like you’re in a roomful of your closest friends and somebody says, “Why don’t you get up and imitate the friend to your left?” Nobody would want to do that, ever!….I had to express the worst time in her life and [in the scene where Mariane is told of Danny’s death] the moment when she received the worst information of her life. It became the worst acting day of my life — and really, the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

[From US Magazine]

Angelina fainted three times in three days on the set of a A Mighty Heart in Pune, India. On the day she was working on that fateful scene where Pearl learns that her husband has been killed by terrorists, Angelina “literally collapsed.”

Marianne Pearl has a “global diary” available on Glamour’s website, which details her experiences with pioneering women who are affecting change throughout the world. I would love to see Angelina take a similar approach and start a blog about her charity work.

A Mighty Heart is out in theatres on Jun 22, 2007, and will premiere at Cannes in May.

Header picture from Glamour.com. Inset pictures from Gawker.

Courtney Love is going to auction off most of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s, clothing. She says her house is like a memorial to the rock star, who died under suspicious circumstances in 1994 in what was ruled a suicide.

“I’m going to have a Christie’s auction,” she tells Spinner. “[My house] is like a mausoleum. My daughter [14-year-old Frances Bean] doesn’t need to inherit a giant hefty bag full of flannel f***ing shirts … A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to ‘Teen Spirit’ — that’s what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we’ll just f***ing sell.”

Love says her friends are supportive of the idea. “Everyone’s been positive and behind me on it,” she says. “We’ll make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity.”

Last August Frances Bean, who turns 15 this year, did a spread for Elle magazine in which she wore one of her late father’s trademark cardigan sweaters and the pair of pyjama pants he had on when he married her mother in Hawaii. The magazine featured other rock star children in their parent’s clothing, and Frances said in the accompanying interview that “My mom has kept a lot of his clothing and I borrow it now and then.”

She didn’t sound particularly attached to her father’s things, so it might be for the best that Love is auctioning it off. Still, since it’s Courtney you can’t help but think that money, not cleaning house, is the motivating factor.

Here are pictures from August, 2006 Elle with Frances Bean in Kurt’s clothing. Courtney is shown at Coachella with Kimberly Stewart in an inset image found at DListed.

Former Disney star Shia LaBeouf’s career is on the rise. He has the lead in box office hit Disturbia, but things weren’t always so rosy for the handsome 20 year-old. He once rammed into a neighbor’s car on purpose and went after him with a knife. He also has admitted to coming from a very chaotic home life. He said he grew up with a heroin-addicted drug-dealing father, who left his mother when Shia was five. His mother worked multiple jobs to try to make ends meet.

Shia eventually reconciled with his father, who now serves as his manager. When he got his first big break in the Disney series “Even Stevens,” a then 12-year-old Shia was required to have a guardian with him on the set. His mother had a full time job, so he asked his recovered father, who he had not seen in years, to step in.

“I got to grow up in a situation where drugs were demonic. To watch your dad go through heroin withdrawl is something that would keep you from doing any of that yourself…”

Due to union regulations, young Shia needed to have a legal guardian on the set [of “Even Stevens”] with him. And since his mother was working, he offered his dad the job!

“I didn’t have a relationship with him beforehand,” Shia has said. “After the heroin thing, he went into the Veteran’s Administration hospital to kick [his habit], and he was out of my life until Even Stevens. He needed a job, so this was his occupation. ‘He Dad, come be a dad again - here’s $800 a week.’ That’s how it started. After that, we created a relationship.”

[From Star Magazine print edition, March 7, 2007]

The article goes on to say that his dad is his biggest fan and that they maintain a good relationship to this day.

Shia has faced trouble with the law since receiving his big break, though. In February, 2005 he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after deliberating ramming his car into a neighbor’s vehicle and then threatening him with a knife:

[Shia LaBeouf] allegedly plowed his car into a neighbor’s vehicle and then reportedly went after the guy with a knife.

The young actor was hauled off in handcuffs and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

“Shia was a raving maniac,” a witness told The Enquirer. “First he rammed his car into a neighbor’s car, and then he went to the guy’s door with a large kitchen knife and threatened to stab him.

“He shouted at the neighbor: ‘What are you going to do now? You think you’re so tough!’”

[From National Enquirer print edition, May 7, 2007]

The neighbor got the knife away from Shia and pinned him down until the cops came. The charges were eventually dropped.

I don’t know much about this actor but it seems we’re about to see a lot more of him. He will play Harrison Ford’s costar in the upcoming Indiana Jones film, which starts shooting this summer.

Here are stills of Shia in Disturbia. Thanks to AllMoviePhoto for these pictures.

Bruce Willis can teach a thing or two about maintaining a civil relationship with your ex-wife to bitter ex-husbands everywhere. In an interview with Vanity Fair, he talks about the great relationship he enjoys with his ex-wife Demi Moore, as well as praising Demi’s toy boy hubby Ashton Kutcher for being a good stepfather.

You hear that, Alec Baldwin? It’s actually possible to get along with your ex if you put your mind to it.

Here are excerpts from the article, taken from The Daily Mail:

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore appear to have achieved the impossible: a happy Hollywood divorce, which now includes family holidays with Moore’s new young husband Ashton Kutcher.

Willis, 52, told Vanity Fair: “It’s hard for people to understand, but we go on holidays together.”

He explained: “We still raise our kids together - we still have that bond. Demi is the mother of my children and Ashton is the stepfather of my children.”

Despite their divorce in 2000 after 13 years of together, the star of Live Free or Die Hard revealed: “I love Demi, and I know she loves me.”

He added: “I’m thrilled that Ashton turned out to be such a great guy.”

I know it’s not possible all the time, but it makes it so much easier for everyone involved when exes get along after a divorce. I split up with my ex a couple of years ago and we have times when we don’t see eye to eye on things, but we make the effort to get along for our daughter’s sake, and if she’s happy then we’re all happy.

Bruce and Demi is a good example of what can be achieved when you put your children’s well being first. It’s still surprising that Bruce is able to go on family holidays with his ex wife and her much younger (and better looking) husband. I wonder if Ashton feels he has to be on his best behavior when tough guy Bruce is around? He was in Die Hard, after all. He looks like the kind of guy that would kick your ass if you mess with his girls.

One night last fall when Britney was out with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, a fan gave Britney a teddy bear and claimed it was for one of her boys. The bear had a transmitter hidden inside inside it and was sending everything back to the guy, who was saving all of Britney’s private moments within earshot of the bear. He then tried to blackmail her, and told her he would sell the tapes he had of her fights with K-Fed and talks with Paris unless she paid him off:

It’s hush-hush and very confidential, but the latest weird twise in the Britney Spears saga is a bizarre blackmail caper… It began when Britney - out partying with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan one night during her infamous weeks-long booze binge - was approached by a male “fan” who handed her a stuffed teddy bear “for your baby boy,” then faded. Woozy Pop Tart took teddy home - unaware that a tiny transmitter hidden in its innards was apparently beaming eavesdropped conversations back to the “fan.”

Britney first learned of the wacko scam when the guy contacted her, threatening to sell tapes of alleged scream-fests with Keven Federline, intimate conversations with pals, etc., to the highest bidder - unless she coughs up buck$$$!

After the creep’s call, disbelieving Britney called in her security guys - and they actually found a transmitter tucked in Tell-All Teddy’s tummy. Britney’s informed her lawyers, who are on the case.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, Mike Walker’s column, May 7, 2007]

That’s actually a pretty clever idea to bug a celebrity and it sounds like a plot out of a movie, not that we’re advocating it by any means. Given that Britney was hanging out with Paris and up to no good at the time, the bear may have witnessed quite a few shaningans. It’s unlikely that they’re worth much, though, I mean we all saw at least four separate incidents of her flashing her baby-maker (link NSFW) so recordings of some crap she talked with Paris aren’t going to be worth much. Maybe they were lovers as was rumored, though, and those tapes would cause a sensation for about 4-5 business days before we moved on to something else.

Many of you, including Jessie, have called for a moratorium on Britney stories and I agree that scrutinizing her every move gets boring quickly. This was a story that involved a potentially embarassing incident for the fallen pop star, and was too good to pass up. Britney, Paris and Lindsay are low-hanging fruit in the gossip world and while it’s easy to ignore their antics when there’s a major scandal and lots of other gossip, it’s equally easy to bitch about them as filler. They’re a hard habit to break.

Header image is of Britney, Paris and Lohan back in the day, which means a few months ago.

During his promotional appearance for the movie Wild Hogs in London recently, John Travolta urged people to help prevent global warming. He then hopped on his Boeing and flew home alone in a plane that could fit over a hundred people.

Another case of celebrity “Do as I say, not as I do” mentality, then.

Here’s the info from The Washington Post:

Flogging the British release of his film “Wild Hogs” recently, John Travolta urged everyone to “do their bit” to combat global warming, reported London’s Daily Mail, which quickly calculated that Travolta — who it says owns at least five aircraft of various sizes, which he parks at his private home/airport in Florida — leaves an annual “carbon footprint” of pollution nearly 100 times greater than that of the average British citizen.

Travolta’s fleet includes a Boeing 707, tricked out with multiple dining rooms and accommodations for a scant 34 passengers in a space that usually carries about 150. Travolta said that even though he is sensitive to the environment, he needs his own planes because it’s a big hassle to be a movie star and get around. He also told reporters that the answer to global warming might possibly be to build domed cities in space.

Days later, as if campaigning to become the world’s least eco-friendly celebrity, when Travolta landed his stretch-limo of a 707 in Ireland to refuel (there were conflicting reports about whether the landing was routine or prompted by engine problems), it was reported that he was the only one aboard the huge craft. A later report said there was an “entourage” on board.

Coming from a Scientologist, I’m not surprised with the cities in space comment. If anything, I bet him and his wife have already arranged a timeshare with TomKat when Xenu calls them back to their home planet.

When Travolta is not putting his foot in his mouth or caning the ozone layer, he does take the odd acting gig. I found this clip of him in the new Hairspray remake. He makes a surprisingly convincing drag queen, but I’m still mad they’ve Disney-fied the dark edge of the John Waters take on the musical. Why does Hollywood have to mess with decent movies by doing crappy re-makes, anyway?

I have to admit I was one of the sad cases that went to this opening in hope of getting a dress I saw in a magazine preview of Kate Moss’s Topshop collection. I walked out empty handed because by the time they let my group of 120 people in, my dress was gone. Argh!

Anyway, Kate Moss was there and she posed in the front window of Topshop’s flagship store in London’s shopping Mecca, Oxford Street. She was a lot shorter than I thought she would be, and I liked the style of the dress she had on but hated the colour (if I wore it, I’d just look like a tall glass of Tang). After she was done modelling, she went into a VIP area to celebrate with her pal Sadie Frost and others. Not a bad night’s pay for only standing in front of a window 20 seconds.

A lot of the stuff that was on sale that she designed was impractical for women of “size” (i.e. anyone who isn’t as thin as a 7 year old boy), and I didn’t find a lot of the stuff very inspiring — I’ve found better and cheaper stuff in Forever 21 in the US, and that is saying something. Even though there were loads of women lining up the street in order to get in the store, there wasn’t a huge stampede to get in, unlike the time I tried to buy Tickle Me Elmo for my niece for Christmas the year it was the must have item.

As this is the Kate Moss collection, it is expected that her clothes fly off the rails within days, and indeed when I looked online this morning in a last ditch attempt to find the dress I wanted, I found it was not listed on the website. AND this is with people limited to buying 5 items at a time so as they aren’t oversold on E-Bay by shady entrepreneurs.

All in all, it looks like Kate’s foray into the world of fashion designing (even if she didn’t design a damn thing) has been successful. Unfortunately for me, it leaves me without a dress to wear to my high school reunion in a couple months time. Dammit!

Picture Note by Celebitchy: Here are pictures of Moss at her Topshop Collection opening, thanks to Photorazzi.

Spiderman 3 was the first film to ever premiere in the NYC borough of Queens, the hometown of fictional hero Peter Parker and his girl next door Mary Jane, played by Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Fashion cheapskate and vintage-clothing lover Dunst wore a silver lame sack-like dress with dark black stockings. She tried to go for the glam disco look and didn’t fail miserably. Tobey Maguire’s fiance, jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer, wore an unfortunate white layered one-shoulder dress that wouldn’t look out of place at a prom 15 years ago. It had one oversized puffy sleeve and the body of the dress looked like someone wrapped a roll of toilet paper around her - I’m not exaggerating. Mayer’s outfit made Kiki’s look tame in comparison. When you add in Adriana Lima’s flowery number accented by complicated Grecian sandals the entire affair is a cacophony of bad fashion. Bryce Dallas Howard played it safe in a black v-neck empire waist dress with lace sleeves.

Dunst said in a recent interview that she knows Maguire well after working with him in three movies, and that they both know how to bug the shit out of each other. (At least that’s what I read between the lines)

“Now that Tobey and I have worked on three movies together, we know each other very well,” she says of her co-star. “I know which buttons to press in him and he knows which to press in me.

“It makes for a more complicated adult relationship, which is great for the film. Everything we feel about each other is all in the movie, our relationship has definitely matured. Audiences have seen us grow up on screen and that’s because the bond has been there from the beginning.”

They seem to share an intense dislike for each other from what I’ve heard, and Kirsten’s comments kind of confirm that.

Other stars shown in the pictures below include Topher Grace and James Franco. Thanks to Photorazzi for these pictures.

Former screen siren and Mommy Dearest star Faye Dunaway must be having credit problems. She was denied a store credit card at Banana Republic. Instead of slinking away like you’re supposed to do when your credit is denied, Dunaway called the manager and pulled the old “don’t you know who I am?” bullshit. The guy told her there was nothing he could do and she got loud and upset, throwing her stuff down before she stormed out.

The 66-year-old actress threw a fit when staffers at [Banana Republic in Beverly Hills] refused to issue her a credit card, claiming she had bad credit, say sources.

“Faye picked out some clothes, and then asked if she could open a credit card with the store,” revealed an insider.

“She filled out the form, but after a few minutes, the employee told her that her card was denied.

“Faye went beserk. ‘Don’t they know who I am!’ she yelled - grabbing at the phone. ‘Give me that!’

“She started yelling into the phone, asking the same question over and over. ‘Don’t you know who I am? I’m Faye Dunaway!’”

Finally, the undaunted diva slammed down the phone and asked to see the person in charge…

“The manager tried to explain that the store has nothing to do with the decision, but Faye cut him off, again asking; ‘Don’t you know who I am.’

“The manager looked dumbfounded as the actress yelled at the top of her lungs: ‘I’m Faye Dunaway!” He shook his head and said politely, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you.’”

[From The National Enquirer print edition, May 7, 2007]

Dunaway then pushed her clothes off the counter to the floor and left the store in a huff.

Maybe she has bad credit because her people forgot to pay one of her cards or something for a few months and it’s possible she’s not in dire straights. It just goes to show that everyone needs to keep on top of those payments and that it doesn’t matter if you’re an aging diva with an attitude, you can still get denied by a chain clothing store.

Header image is of Faye Dunaway at The Fountain premiere in November, 2006. [via]

Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore were spotted at The Coachella music festival this weekend. Diaz looks like she’s taking fashion lessons from Britney as she’s sporting a babydoll dress with brown boots, but the resulting effect isn’t half as bad as Britney on an average day.

Other pictures include fug friends Courtney Love and Kimberley Stewart, and Paris Hilton and Amanda Rowan. Lohan looks pretty silly in a striped shirt with demin cut offs, suspenders and espadrilles. She also looks super high in the photo where she’s clinging to DJ Steve Aoki.

The Coachella festival is held in the desert about 125 miles east of LA. It’s a three day music festival that ran from Friday to Sunday with performances by groups including Bjork, The Jesus and Mary Chain, (who were accompanied by Scarlett Johansson this year) and Rage Against the Machine. About 180,000 people were estimated to have attended.

Here’s Scarlett Johansson performing “Just Like Honey” with The Jesus and Mary Chain. For some reason I thought she would be a better singer:

Thanks to Photorazzi for these pictures.