American and Iraqi children suffering from the war will get much-needed support, thanks to $1 million the Jolie-Pitt Foundation is donating to the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict.

“These educational support programs for children of conflict are the best way to help them heal,” Angelina Jolie said.
The EPCC, which Jolie co-founded in 2007, has earmarked $500,000 for the Armed Service YMCA Operation Hero Program, which helps educate and emotionally support children of military personnel serving in Iraq. The money will bring 2,500 new children into the program.

The other $500,000 will go to groups dealing with Iraqi women and children struggling to learn – or simply survive. They include Women for Women International; The International Rescue Committee; and NineMillion.org, part of the United National High Commissioner for Refugees. In all, 5,700 Iraqi children and 300 women will benefit.

“We hope to encourage others to give to these great organizations,” said Brad Pitt.

Jolie, a United Nations goodwill ambassador, is noted for her humanitarian work. In February, she went on her second trip to Iraq, for a State Department mission to research the displacement crisis. In May, she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post calling for aid for Iraqi refugees.

Last week we published an article that originated in Ted Casablanca’s E! Online column that claimed that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had sold their home in the French quarter of New Orleans. It seemed like a plausible story considering that the famous family is now renting a huge estate in France and may want to cut expenses. A lot of you mentioned in the comments that Casablanca was not a reliable source and there was no confirmation from the Jolie-Pitts. It turns out you were right and the story was false. The Jolie-Pitts haven’t sold their home.

A representative for Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie denies the rumor that the pair has sold their French Quarter mansion.

“This rumor going around that they’ve sold or are selling their house in New Orleans is not true,” said Trevor Neilson of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. “It’s just made up, as are a lot of things that are said about them.”

The city conveyance office also did not have any record that the couple had sold their New Orleans home, which they bought in January 2007 under the name Mondo Bongo Trust.

The rumor, fomented by celebrity gossip magazines like E! Online, was also dismissed late last week by several prominent real estate brokers who do business in the French Quarter.

[From Nola.com, thanks to commenter Jennifer and to Alison for e-mailing it]

I don’t usually read Casablanca’s column because it’s kind of a chore to figure out what he’s saying, but we’ll strive not to put much credence in the confusing things he says in the future.

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their four children are holed up in a leased 880 acre estate on the French Rivera that boasts it’s own vineyard, chapel, olive groves, lake and moat. We haven’t seen a picture of them in several weeks and many of you undoubtedly find that a welcome change.

In Touch this week has quotes from Angelina that supposedly reveal that she’s having a touch time. She said in an interview that they don’t source or claim is exclusive, that:

“You always wonder how having a lot of children in a fairly short amount of time is going to affect your life together. You have less time together, you’re always busy, you’re often very tired in the evenings. So it’s something that you either learn to adapt to or you’re going to be in trouble as a couple.

“There are a lot of tough days when you’re exhausted, and you know you can’t collapse because you have so many responsibilities.

“I could spend hours just watching Brad enjoying his time with the kids. Except I’m usually busy changing clothes or getting the kids ready for bed myself.”

[From In Touch, print edition, June 30, 2008]

She probably did say this, because she’s given a lot of interviews lately and In Touch doesn’t credit the quotes to an insider. At least she’s being honest. It can’t be easy with four, soon to be six, kids. Angelina has revealed in earlier interviews that they do have help with the kids but that it’s not overnight.

Brad and Angelina are shown at the Kung Fu Panda premiere on 5/15/08, thanks to WENN.

Entertainment Tonight is sticking with their story that Angelina Jolie has already given birth to her twins. They say they want to “see how this story plays out” before they think about issuing a correction. According to others, Angelina is supposed to be due in August, but reports from ET last week claimed the twins arrived early. PEOPLE magazine and Us Weekly went to their own sources who denied the rumors. Angelina’s rep also denied this happened. Other indications that ET is wrong include no grandparents flying in, no flowers being delivered and Brad Pitt attending a sporting event over the weekend, “an unlikely spot for a new father of premature twins.”

The AP says it’s not entirely ET’s fault that they’re wrong as they may have been tricked by an impostor pretending to be Angelina’s personal assistant.

The show initiated its own contact with Goline after hearing rumors the babies had been born in France, said the executive. The person who made the contact was an “ET” producer who had worked with Goline while at CNN and kept Goline’s e-mail address, the executive said. The executive forwarded an e-mail exchange that appeared to support this version of events.

In the e-mails, Goline — or the impostor — said she was there for the deliveries and everyone was doing well. Pressed by “ET” for more information, the person said she could say no more.

When ET posted the story, there was said to be “pandemonium” at the offices of Us Weekly. I know exactly how Us felt. There was pandemonium in my office as well. I dropped my contact and I must have spent 30 minutes crawling on the floor looking for it.

Okay, all the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fans are basically waiting around for two things. One, the birth of the Jolie-Pitt twins. Two, the opening of Wanted in theaters.

I can’t help you with the twins. They’re in there and not coming out until it’s time. And I can’t get the movie to open any faster. However, I can feed your anticipation!

Check out this video player with five preview trailers. There was one in there I hadn’t seen yet. I can’t wait to see this movie, it will be amazing on a big screen with surround sound even if our theaters cost a fortune.

Not pictured: peace and quiet

Angelina Jolie hasn’t even given birth to her twins yet and she already wants to adopt another kid. An insider told OK! magazine:

“Angie and Brad have wanted an African boy for the last couple of years. They were initially going to have that adoption follow the addition of Pax last year, but that all changed when Angie got pregnant with twins last fall.”

Now the adoption will have to take place after the twins are born. The in-the-know source said the pair was well into the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia before learning of Angelina’s latest pregnancy. 

This is getting ridiculous. Brad and Angelina are turning into my grandmother (minus the soiled underwear and boring stories about condoms costing only a nickel). But instead of collecting little porcelain dolls, these two ego-maniacs are collecting the real thing. I just hope that Brad and Angelina realize (unlike grammy) that the main difference between kiln-glazed figurines and real people is that when you eventually grow tired of them, you can’t resell them on Craigslist . . . unless of course you’re these people.

Mary-Louise Parker has got Brad Pitt’s back!

“Brad is actually a lovely, smart person, not to mention gorgeous,” the actress gushed about her Assassination of Jesse James co-star to Parade.com.

“People just project so much onto him and Angelina [Jolie] which isn’t true,” Parker said. “I just find it so bizarre. It’s like you’ve never been in the room with this person, much less met them but you’re convinced as to who they are and what they’re morality is.”

The internet, Parker explained, has let people “say whatever they feel like about someone.”

Angelina Jolie has clarify that the tattoo on her partner Brad’s back doesn’t bring any meaning. Some experts thought the tattoo meant the levees in the couple’s adopted New Orleans, Louisiana.

She explains to Entertainment Weekly magazine: “We went to Davos… (and) one night we didn’t have anything to do, so I was drawing on his back.

“He just liked it! The picture everybody saw was kind of awkward, but it just lines up beautifully on his back, just enhances the part of the body I like.

“I mean, it’s meaningful in that it’s us making angles and shapes out of each other’s body, that kind of a thing.”

She’s a humanitarian, a business woman, a talk show host, and now, for the second year running, Oprah Winfrey can once again boost her resume with the title of “Most Powerful Celebrity,” according to a new survey by Forbes magazine.

Oprah was given the title again by the money mag, which ranked celebrities based on their earnings over the last year (a whopping $275 million for the TV queen), along with press clippings, Google hits, television mentions and magazine covers.

Golfer Tiger Woods took second place with his earnings of $115 million, while Angelina Jolie took the third slot, despite earning a-small-by-comparison $14 million, according to Forbes.

Beyonce and her $80 million in earnings for the year (from June 2007 to June 2008) netted her a fourth place ranking. Her music mogul husband, Jay-Z made the list too — in seventh.

In between the couple were David Beckham, who placed fifth, and “Pirates” star Johnny Depp who grabbed sixth.

Reunited rock outfit The Police, were a new entry on the list. The trio, fronted by Sting, took eighth.

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling nabbed the ninth spot thanks to the $44 million the book series’ final installment, “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows” earned since its release last July.

Angelina’s partner, Brad Pitt, rounded out the top ten, thanks to the attention he receives for being part of the celebrity supercouple and his box office takings.

Other celebrities in the top 25 included Will Smith (11), Justin Timberlake (12), Jennifer Anniston (17), Simon Cowell (22) and Jerry Seinfeld (25).

Copyright 2008 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Angelina Jolie has finally set the record straight over those reports she kept a vial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck during the couple’s marriage.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger, Jolie claimed the reports got it wrong.

“It was never a vial anyway. It was like a flower press,” she said. “It was like from a slight cut on your finger and you press your fingerprint in. It was kind of a sweet gesture. I thought it was kind of romantic!”

The couple was married for three years, splitting up around the time Angelina adopted her first son, Maddox. Though Jolie and Thornton have gone their separate ways, she told the magazine there is no bad blood (no pun intended) between them.

“I still love him dearly and think the world of him and I’m proud to have been his wife for a time,” she said. “I don’t believe in regrets. It’s a dangerous habit to get into — it makes you pause in your life if you start thinking back and questioning yourself.”

Currently, Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt are in France, preparing for the birth of twin daughters. The additions will bring their brood numbers to six, which is news the family was not prepared for.

“We weren’t expecting twins! So it did shock us, and we jumped to six quickly. But we like a challenge,” Jolie said. “[Brad’s] mom and dad are on standby to come out and help. And fortunately we can hire help if we need it, but we’re going to try as we usually do to balance it as well as we can.”

Another thing the Jolie-Pitts are balancing? Their sex life.

When asked if twins were bad for their between-the-sheets action, Jolie said carrying twins has made things more interesting.

“I think it’s quite the opposite. It’s great for the sex life,” she said. “It just makes you a lot more creative. So you have fun, and as a woman you’re just so round and full.”

Copyright 2008 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.