February 9, 2010: Girl's relationship is not Interrupted

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie sue tabloid over breakup claim.

by Jeffrey Cottrill

Contrary to the rumors you may have heard, it seems Angelina Jolie still has a Mighty Heart for Brad Pitt. You could also say that their relationship isn't exactly a Fight Club.

The über-high-profile couple, to whom the press often refers as "Brangelina", are suing British tabloid News of the World over a story that the pair was planning a multimillion-dollar split. The January 24 story, which many international news outlets picked up, claimed that Jolie and Pitt had already consulted with a family lawyer and decided how they wanted to divide their assets and schedule child custody.

The couple has retained London law firm Schillings to wage the lawsuit. "The publication of these false allegations is being treated as a serious misuse of private information," the firm said in a press statement yesterday, "and accordingly, a claim form has... been issued in the High Court of Justice in London."

"The News of the World has failed to meet our clients' reasonable demands for a retraction of and apology for these false and intrusive allegations," firm lawyer Keith Schillings added in a separate statement. "We have advised them to bring proceedings which they have now done."

Schillings cited comments from Los Angeles divorce lawyer Sorrell Trope, who some news stories had reported was representing Pitt and Jolie. "I have had no contact from... Angelina Jolie and/or Brad Pitt," Trope said, as per Schillings. "I have never met your... clients or had any involvement with either of them. The foregoing is true with respect to all other members of this firm [Trope and Trope]."

According to Schillings (the firm), the News of the World story was a violation of the Press Complaints Commission's code, which requires the media to refrain from publishing false or exaggerated information.

Pitt and Jolie first met on the set of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, while Pitt was still married to Friends star Jennifer Aniston. Jolie, 34, has been married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, and Pitt was once engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple has six children, three of them adopted.

Angelina Jolie won an Academy Award in 2000 for her role in Girl, Interrupted; she gave other acclaimed performances in the films A Mighty Heart and Changeling. She stars in the upcoming Hollywood thriller Salt.

Brad Pitt, 46, has received Oscar nominations for his roles in Twelve Monkeys and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. His other well-known movies include Se7en, Fight Club, Babel, and Inglourious Basterds. His next appearance will be in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.

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