Angelina Jolie Flight Drama: Did She Drink the Wine?

Angelina Jolie had quite the dramatic flight back from Iraq.   The mother of four is reportedly pregnant and she collapsed on her long flight home form the region two weeks ago, a new report claims that is published in Life& Style Weekly.  It was so bad that she was given oxygen and treated on the plane for what is called nosebleeds and leg cramps.She may have even fainted in her seat.  The story claims that the option was doled out to the humanitarian actress to have the flight halted so she could seek even more medical attention on the ground but apparently she roughed it out and made it okay for the rest of the way.The actress was the subject of many health stories during the birth of her first child. Jolie and her sidekick and baby daddy Brad Pitt have yet to confirm the pregnancy but she has been laying off the sauce of late.  In a recent double date with Brangelina and Clint Eastwood and his wife Dina Ruiz the booze was flowing at the table according to a report from Us Weekly magazine.But did Angelina drink the wine?  The report claims that a witness told the magazine that there was a glass of wine in front of her, but she only took a few sips, however later it says they all drank the wine and the chatty eyewitness claims that Brad had a few refills.  The witness also said that her baby bump was very noticeable.

Media not helping Britney's public collapse

The pop superstar, 26, is coming unhinged — and in full view of the world, thanks to an unprecedented 24/7 media watch that makes her the only celebrity anywhere with this level of scrutiny.

Her outlandish behavior — lack of underwear, head-shaving, rehab, custody battle, psych ward — has been chronicled in mind-boggling detail. So has the mundane. On Tuesday, there was a hearing in her custody case over a gag order, which was denied. She went to a restaurant with her dad and kept getting up to go to the bathroom. It was all covered.

Expect her life to continue to unspool before us. One reason: There is big money to be made.

“The biggest news in the world right now is celebrity news,” and Britney is the biggest story, says Gary Morgan, CEO and co-owner of Splash News, a paparazzi photo agency.

Helping to fuel the interest: dramatic changes in the media landscape. The number of celebrity media outlets, journalists, photographers and bloggers has soared. News-delivery technology — the Internet, cellphones, podcasting — has rapidly expanded, and the revenue derived from covering celebs has multiplied.

Portfolio magazine recently calculated the value of what it called “the Britney Industrial Complex” and found that she and her travails are worth $110 million to $120 million a year to the economy. The Britney paparazzi alone take in $4 million annually, or about 20% of the overall paparazzi business.

The mainstream media also has turned its attention to Spears. “She’s a mess, and people want to see what happens,” Morgan says.

Indeed, demand is not flagging. Sales of Us Weekly and OK! climbed in 2007 (10% for Us and more than 23% for OK!) even as other celebrity magazines saw circulation diminish. The reason cited: their coverage of Spears, who has been on OK!’s cover 54 times in the 103 issues since January 2006. She has been the No. 1 weekly celebrity in USA TODAY’s Celebrity Heat Index, which has measured media attention since last January, more times than any other celebrity, and she outpaces No. 2 in total exposure (Angelina Jolie) 2-to-1.

The Los Angeles bureau chief of the Associated Press issued a memo to his staff last month reminding employees that for the foreseeable future, anything involving Spears is big-deal news. Rolling Stone, which first put her on the cover when she was 17, has her on the current issue with the headline, “Inside an American Tragedy.”

Then there’s the Chico Enterprise-Record. The 32,000-circulation daily in Chico, Calif., declared a month-long moratorium on Spears stories on Jan. 20 and is considering extending the ban for another month. Nobody has complained, the paper continues to publish, life goes on — just without Britney Spears news.

But maybe the reason Chico readers didn’t complain is that it doesn’t matter — there are countless other places to find Spears news these days.

Still, the Britney mess raises questions for the media, or at least for those who consider themselves responsible journalists: Have they become part of the story? Is the overpowering coverage contributing to her downward spiral? Should they pull back? Or is it their job to keep the cameras running until whatever happens … happens?

“We are taking pleasure in the spectacle of her self-destruction. By looking, we add momentum to what is already the most dramatic and publicly detailed immolation of a public figure in our lifetime,” says Michael Joseph Gross, a writer for Blender magazine who spent weeks hanging out with the Spears paparazzi for his March cover story on her “Road to Ruin.”

The experience left him deeply disturbed, he says, partly because of the role of the media and the public.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever written about. There is no light in this story,” Gross says.

It’s tempting to place the bulk of the blame for Spears’ predicament on increasingly aggressive paparazzi, and there’s no doubt they play a role, Gross says. “The paps I rode with are aware they are helping Britney along a destructive path,” he says. “But they don’t seem to take her life or their own lives seriously enough to stop and honestly assess what’s going on.”

The paparazzi now number in the hundreds in Los Angeles, many of them foreign-born; when Splash opened in 1989, there were just a handful and all were American, says Morgan, who is British.

Some agencies, such as TMZ.

News – Music, movie, Entertainment FARROW PRAISES 'WONDERFUL' JOLIE

Actress MIA FARROW has lavished praise on ANGELINA JOLIE for balancing her Hollywood career with her role as a United Nations goodwill ambassador.The Rosemary’s Baby star is proud to regularly be compared to Jolie – both American women are U.N. ambassadors who have adopted a number of children from overseas.And although Farrow has never met the younger actress, she thinks the superstar is a "wonderful woman".Farrow says, "I have nothing but admiration for Angelina Jolie on all sorts of counts. I love her work, and I love what she’s doing with her life."I love when she was asked when she was going to get married and she said, ‘I’ll get married when everyone can marry.’ I thought that was particularly eloquent."By all counts, she’s just a wonderful woman."

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The couple is planning an island Wedding this Spring as Jolie is reportedly pregnant with twins.
‘They have both been through messy divorces and are wise enough not to marry without a proper pre-nup in place,’ says a source. ‘They know that, if God forbid, things don’t work out, they can make a clean break and go their separate wayswith their separate assets.’

Pitt was previously married to actress Jennifer Aniston. Jolie was married to Jonny Lee Miller until 1997. She then married Billy Bob Thornton, who she divorced in 2003.

The source adds that the couple was hesitant to marry because of their prior divorces. ‘They’ve been talking about it for months and are now very excited. Initially they were hesitant because both have had failed marriages,’ the insider added. ‘But years have passed, and they’re both crazy about each other and their children. They’ve agreed it’s time to set the date.’

The Question is which Island, Jolie’s Cambodian retreat at this stage seems the obvious choice but these 2 have always been full of surprises.

Mia Farrow all praise for Jolie

London, Feb 22 (IANS) Acting legend Mia Farrow is all praise for superstar Angelina Jolie for having a career in Hollywood and working on her role as a United Nations goodwill ambassador. Farrow is proud to be compared to Jolie since both are UN ambassadors who have also adopted children from overseas. Farrow has never met Jolie, but she thinks she is a “wonderful woman”.

Contactmusic.com quoted her as saying: “I have nothing but admiration for Angelina Jolie on all sorts of counts. I love her work, and I love what she’s doing with her life. I love when she was asked when she was going to get married and she said, ‘I’ll get married when everyone can marry’. I thought that was particularly eloquent. By all counts, she’s just a wonderful woman.”

Jolie and Pitt visit court

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s adoption of four-year-old Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt has been formally approved in a Los Angeles court.Jolie adopted Pax from an orphanage in Vietnam last year, after a Vietnamese judge approved the adoption.And on Wednesday a Los Angeles County Children’s Court judge approved and legally made Pax a member of Jolie and Pitt’s family.The Hollywood couple have two other adopted children – Cambodian Maddox, six, and two-year-old Ethiopian Zahara – and 20-month-old biological daughter Shiloh.There is also a report that claims Jolie and Pitt are planning to make their relationship legal by marrying.magazine claims they will wed in the Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, after agreeing on a $200 million pre-nuptial agreement.A source says, "They will ensure that the children won’t want for a single thing for the rest of their lives. But hopefully, they will have a happily married mom and dad."  

Judge wants lawyer to explain reasoning for request to move Spears …

LOS ANGELES: A federal judge wants an attorney who claims to represent Britney Spears to explain why he believes her conservatorship belongs in federal court.

Attorney Jon Eardley argues that the terms of the conservatorship, which occurs when a court determines someone cannot take care of themselves or their affairs, violate the pop star's civil rights.

Judge Philip Gutierrez on Tuesday ordered Eardley to explain by Feb. 29 why the federal court should intervene in a probate case. The order came after attorneys for Spears' father, James Spears, who was named her temporary conservator Feb. 1, argued in a motion that the conservatorship should remain in state court.

James Spears' team argued that a state Superior Court commissioner had previously found that the singer did not have the capacity to retain counsel, and that conservatorship matters do not fall under federal jurisdiction.

Jolie collapses on Iraq flight

Angelina Jolie sparked fears for her health after reportedly collapsing on a flight from Iraq to Los Angeles.The actress visited the war-torn country earlier this month as part of her role as a volunteer for the United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees.But Jolie, who is rumoured to be pregnant with twins, caused panic on her trip back to America after reportedly collapsing in her seat.According to US publication Life & Style the star was given oxygen and treated by medics before being given the all clear.A source tells the magazine: “She started to get swollen ankles and nosebleeds and started having leg cramps. She fainted in her seat.”The reports also claim Jolie was offered the chance to stop off and break the journey before continuing on to LA but she insisted on staying aboard the flight.

Spears' ex-manager must stay away

Sam Lutfi must not come within 250 yards (228 metres) of the singer until 17 March, US District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez said.

In papers requesting the order three weeks ago, Ms Spears’ mother Lynne claimed Mr Lutfi had drugged the star, cut her home phone and yelled at her.

Earlier this week, Ms Spears was denied access to her two young sons.

The singer has not seen her children since 3 January, when she became agitated and was taken to hospital at the end of a court-monitored visit with them.

Ms Spears, who recently spent six days in a psychiatric unit, has repeatedly asked the court to reinstate her visitation rights, but her requests were rejected.

Her father, James Spears, has been granted “temporary conservatorship” over his 26-year-old daughter’s life and her estate, thought to be worth $100m (?50.

Lutfi given Spears restraining order

Britney Spears’s manager Sam Lutfi has been issued with a restraining order, ordering him to stay at least 250 metres away from the singer at all times.Lutfi has also been banned from communicating with the popstar, according to court documents.Spears’s mother Lynne requested the restraining order three weeks ago, claiming that Lutfi had drugged her daughter, cut her home telephone line and was controlling her life.