This week’s tabloids are full of bizarre and negative stories about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I was going to cover some of them, but then I saw this bizarre story of something that actually happened to Brad. According to Us Weekly, while Brad and Jonah Hill were doing a screening of Moneyball this past weekend, a “distraught” man confessed to suicidal thoughts during the Q&A session.

Brad Pitt was a real pal to a stranger in need on Sunday. Following a special screening of Moneyball at the Cary Grant Theatre in Culver City, Calif. on Sunday, the star, 47, encountered a distraught man during a Q&A session with hundreds of fans.

According to an attendee, a 30-something struggling actor announced to Pitt, costar Jonah Hill and the crowd that he was battling suicidal thoughts alone in his car before the night’s event– but the film gave him “a renewed sense of hope.”

(In the acclaimed film, Pitt plays real-life Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who built a champion team using computer-generated analysis to draft its player.)

“It was a really awkward moment,” the attendee tells Us, adding that the actor got “choked up” as he revealed his battles to the crowd.

But Pitt didn’t flinch, the witness says. “He said, ‘Look, man, life is up and down, it’s a vicious cycle, but you have to go through it and deal with that,'” the observer reveals.

The father of six and longtime love to Angelina Jolie continued in his pep talk: “‘You can be down, but then you come back up again, and every failure can lead to success.'”

“It was a touching moment,” adds a second observer. “As he left the theatre he even stopped to talk with the guy to offer him some more words of encouragement because he was obviously fragile.”

Marvels the first witness: “Brad handled the situation really well in front of several hundred people — it was a difficult moment that shocked everyone.”

If you think you or a loved one are in an emotional or suicidal crisis, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline online, or call 800.273.TALK.

[From Us Weekly]

I do think Brad handled it well. What are you supposed to do when a stranger lays down that kind of emotional confession at your feet? Hopefully the pep talk helped that dude.

Should we move on to less weighty subject matter? The Enquirer has a rough story about Brad and the uncool Bermuda Triangle plus Chelsea Handler. I was going to ignore this story, but I’ve seen other versions of this, and it’s a blind item too, so I’m wondering if there isn’t a kernel of truth to it. Here’s the basic gist:

Brad backed out of a TV interview with Chelsea Handler after both Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston blew a gasket.

“Talk about bad choices,” said an insider. “Brad really got raked over the coals by Angie and Jen. For Brad, it’s all business. He just wanted to promote his movies.”

But Angelina is still harboring a lot of resentment towards Chelsea Handler after Chelsea’s profanity-laced rant in New Jersey last December.

Brad also got an earful from Jennifer, who was livid that he was trying to buddy up to Chelsea, one of her closet friends.

“Brad had to beg off the invite with the lame excuse that he couldn’t make it due to ‘film commitments,’” said the insider.

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

What is more unlikely, that Chelsea Handler would agree to have Pitt on her show, or that Brad would agree to appear on Chelsea Lately? I don’t know – I think they’re both unlikely. The kernel of truth might have been that the studio booked Brad on some television shows, and Chelsea Lately might have been one of the shows in contention, but nothing came of it. Plus, there’s the CAA connection – Chelsea is with CAA now, and Brad has been with CAA for a while. I think Brad is hustling for an Oscar, but I doubt he would chat with Chelsea for his campaign… right?

Photos courtesy of WENN.