Angelina Jolie stunned the world earlier this month when she revealed in a New York Times editorial that she’d undergone a preventative mastectomy after finding out she has a faulty BCRA1 gene. It was later revealed that she will also have her ovaries removed to eliminate her chances of cancer there, as well. All of this is quite fascinating (and heartbreaking), and since it’s coming from one of the world’s biggest stars, the press has gone crazy trying to secure that exclusive interview with Angelina about everything that’s happened. Well, dream on, guys – she’s not going to talk.

From The New York Post:

Not even Ann Curry could curry favor with Angelina Jolie for an interview with the actress about her voluntary double mastectomy. We hear NBC pushed the network news correspondent to get the first television chat with Jolie, following her shocking announcement last week that she’d had the surgery. But Jolie’s turned down Curry, and every other news outlet, for now. The NBC journalist had a long-standing relationship with Jolie and Brad Pitt, having interviewed them several times. After Curry was fired from the “Today” show last year, Jolie made it known that she wouldn’t speak with anyone else at the network. NBC declined to comment last night.

Leave it to the Post to put an annoying spin even in a single paragraph “story”. Was Angelina Jolie’s mastectomy “voluntary”? Yes, insofar that doctors didn’t force her to undergo the procedure. When you consider that she had an 87% chance of getting breast cancer – which killed her mother at an early age, by the way, dufuses – then it becomes less voluntary and more self-preserving.

In any case, good for Angelina for not doing interviews about it. I don’t think anyone with a working heart or brain could say that she’s done any of this for attention, but choosing to speak out about it as she did initially was so important as it empowered other women who may be in the same position to not only be more proactive in their own health, but also perhaps to feel a sense of, you know, maybe I’m not alone in this. It’s a shame that our culture looks to celebrities for comfort, but it happens, so everyone get over it. It certainly doesn’t need to turn into a media circus, however, and good for Angelina for opting out of doing so.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a pretty reclusive couple, when it comes to sharing their private lives both individually and as a pair with the general public. Turns out, they’re sorta same behind-the-scenes, as well. Angelina has said before that she doesn’t have many girlfriends, and it turns out that Brad doesn’t have any friends, either, so basically they just hang out with each other and their kids and it’s a total blast. Kewl beanz.

From Esquire:

“I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier. I’m making things. I just haven’t known life to be any happier.”

“I always thought that if I wanted to do a family, I wanted to do it big. I wanted there to be chaos in the house…there’s constant chatter in our house, whether it’s giggling or screaming or crying or banging. I love it. I love it. I love it.

“I hate it when they’re gone. I hate it. Maybe it’s nice to be in a hotel room for a day – ‘Oh, nice, I can finally read a paper’. But then, by the next day, I miss that cacophony, all that life.”

Constant chatter? Ugh, sounds like my nightmare, but do you, you two. Live the dream.

In all honesty, y’all know I’m Team Jen for life, but Brangelina make it hard to say shit about them because they seem to have a really loving, successful relationship and they’re damn generous philanthropists, as well, so it kinda makes you the asshole to hate on them, and that just makes you want to dislike them even more, but you can’t. It’s a vicious cycle.

Besides, not having a ton of friends is okay by me. I’d rather hang out with my boo 24/7 than spend 2 hours with 99% of the people I know, so I’m down with that.

Angelina Jolie is taking more preventative measures to avoid cancer, of which she is high at risk. Or, was, until she got a double mastectomy. I’m starting to feel weird reporting about all of this. Here’s why. These are all very personal decisions and her body is her business. HOWEVER, she is making it public, and by doing so, is inspiring millions of women and raising awareness about how important it is to get regular screenings for cancer. For women who have had mastectomies, she is an inspiration for coming forward and talking about it, and showing that this surgery doesn’t make you any less of a woman. Yes, I used “inspirational” and “inspiration” very close together, but I really don’t know what else to say. She’s just…damn.

Now she’s about to go another major surgery. From People:

The mother of six is also planning to undergo surgery to remove her ovaries. Because of her “faulty” BRCA1 gene, she still faces a high risk of developing ovarian cancer, which her doctors estimate at 50 percent. Some doctors recommend patients undergo the surgery by age 40 or when a woman is done having children, though it may trigger early menopause.

Yesterday Brad Pitt released his own statement, calling her “heroic.”

Salon posted an article titled “Angelina Jolie’s Most Thrilling Decision: Robbing Her Breasts Of Their Cultural Power” and I’m really not sure what I think or feel about that. The crux of the article is,

From now on, her breasts will no longer be big, firm or “supple.” They won’t even serve as a public symbol of her fertility or of her interest in the task of mothering. Her breasts are now something more matter-of-fact. They are simply dispensable physical objects. She absolutely robbed them of their cultural, symbolic power. And what’s so completely thrilling about this, is that she did it on her own, one single woman — one single decision — against the machine.

I just don’t know how I feel about calling a mastectomy “thrilling.” She didn’t do this to entertain you. What do you think?

Angelina Jolie stunned us all when she frankly and bravely announced that she had a double mastectomy to drastically decrease her chances of breast cancer. You may recall that Christina Applegate underwent the same procedure and she is now cancer free.

Brad Pitt, ever supportive, released his own statement about Ms. Jolie’s surgery and decision. From The London Evening Standard:

Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her, absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus. All I want for is for her to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family.

I am so glad that she’s okay. She was looking very frail not long ago. I can’t even imagine the mental and physical ordeal of what she was going through.

Many celebrities and fans are tweeting and blogging their support and well wishes, although sadly and inevitably, there are many making insensitive comments. And they are douchebags. Let’s just be real about it — they are making f-cking stupid comments and they are total dicks. Someone even tweeted, about Jolie’s procedure:

Expensive and unnecessary! I think Angelina’s going in for a gruesome attention seeking stunt.

And in case you were wondering, not that it matters, that tweet came from a woman.

Angelina Jolie may not be my favourite Hollywood personality, but she is a pretty solid human being in terms of her advocacy and activism for important social justice issues and her philanthropy. Plus, she’s living proof of the fact that celebrities can have privacy and live lives out of the spotlight if they really want to – especially after she revealed the shocking news that she recently underwent a preventative double mastectomy in a wonderfully frank and quite moving op-ed for The New York Times on Monday.

Jolie, whose mother died after a decade-long battle with breast cancer, discovered last year that she is a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation which gave her a nearly 87% chance of suffering from breast cancer as well as a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. This is devastating news, but news which she refused to take lying down, instead opting for surgery to cut her risk drastically.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.

My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.

Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.

Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

There’s more to the article – Jolie discusses how the decision affected her and her children emotionally, how supportive Brad Pitt has been throughout the ordeal and also encourages other women to seek options should they find themselves in the same position. The whole thing is definitely worth a read. Kudos to Angelina Jolie for bringing attention to this very important – and increasingly common – issue.

Angelina Jolie seems to have been lying low lately. She’s was in London doing good things; she appeared at the G8 Summit, raising awareness for victims of sexual violence in warzones in the Middle East. From The Huffington Post:

The Hollywood star joined British Foreign Secretary William Hague in announcing $36 million in additional funding from G-8 nations to go toward a series of measures for preventing sexual violence and ensuring justice for its survivors.

For too long, Jolie said, survivors of sexual violence have been “the forgotten victims” of wars in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

“Today, I believe that their voices have been heard,” she said alongside Hague, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and others at a meeting of foreign ministers from G-8 nations.

Despite her charitable efforts, she still managed to land a spot on the 20 Most Hated Celebrities List (#15).

Now she’s back in LA and selling wine or whatever latest pet hobby she and Brad Pitt are focused on.

It wasn’t until The Daily Mail posted these photos of a very skinny Angelina that I thought, whoa. Yeah, she’s always been thin — hence the very sarcastic “BREAKING NEWS” headline — but this seems really extreme. Look at her hand compared to her wrist! And look at her legs.What is happening here?

She and Kate Bosworth are rapidly shrinking. I think It’s alarming. Or is this just the new normal for how female celebrities look?

Today in “problems I can relate to”, Angelina Jolie has apparently been using hers and Brad Pitt‘s private jet to fly some of Brad’s favourite English food back to Los Angeles for him. Apparently he’s been missing his favourite curry spots and other things that the UK just does better, like baked beans and sweets and shit. Having just returned from living in England (and looking forward to moving back ASAP), I can feel Brad’s pain. There’s no such thing as a 44p bottle of no sugar added lemon squash here in New York City. No, you have to pay $7 for an imported one. Boo! As for the curry, there’s just no substitute for that.

From The Sun:

She had a special consignment of lamb bhuna, chicken korma and chicken tikka picked up from Brad’s favourite curry house in Surrey.

A source said: “Brad is back in America and has been longing for a decent curry.

“He really misses their Indian takeaway nights from when they lived in Surrey last year. Angelina arranged as a surprise for a load of it to be cooked and flash-freeze packed for her to fly home.

“So while she was at the G8, she sent her bodyguard Ray and eldest son Maddox to collect it and to stock up with more treats.

“They even got a load of Kingfisher and Cobra beer for Brad to wash it all down with.”

It helps when you can pack it all in on a private jet. It would be a struggle with the Easyjet baggage allowance.

Angelina and Maddox were reunited with Brad and the rest of the brood in LA at the weekend.

It was a sweet moment.

Because as well as the curry — and cans of sausages and baked beans — they’d also stocked up on jelly babies, Galaxy Ripple bars and several six packs of Irn Bru — which isn’t sold in their posh neighbourhood of Los Feliz.

Galaxy doesn’t hold a candle to Cadbury and Irn Bru isn’t really my jam, but hey, to each his own. I can’t really speak for the beer thing as I’m more of a cider girl myself, but I guess they weren’t all that into their own wine. Ugh, now I want cider and blackcurrant. And, you know, a private jet. Damn you, Brangelina!

20. Chris Brown
19. Jesse James
18. Taylor Swift
17. Shia LaBeouf
16. Lindsay Lohan
15. Angelina Jolie
14. Jay Leno
13. Ashton Kutcher
12. LeAnn Rimes
10 and 11. Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian
9. Anne Hathaway
8. Justin Bieber
7. Madonna
6. Matt Lauer
5. Katherine Heigl
4. John Mayer
3. Jennifer Lopez
2. Kristen Stewart
1. Gwyneth Paltrow

This is a pretty good list. I’m shocked to see that Kanye West isn’t on here. I love him but I thought he was one of the most hated people around. I’m not sure if he’s psyched or pissed not to be included. I also didn’t realize that people hated Matt Lauer this much. Damn. Too bad this poll was taken after Justin Bieber’s idiotic Anne Frank statement or I’m sure he would be higher up. Kristen Stewart now has the dubious honor of being one of the most hated and least attractive female celebrities. Hey, good for her! At least she’s good at stuff!

Who is your ultimate most hated celebrity?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are apparently getting married sometime soon and everyone (especially Jennifer Aniston, LOLZ)  wants to know when, but they’re not telling. The reports of a possible secret wedding during Christmas 2012  have been circulating for months, ever since Angie started wearing a wedding ring on her wifey finger, so of course every reporter she deigns to give a few precious moments of her time wants to know if they’re already married or what.

From TMZ:

LOL, “No, it is not [a wedding ring].” Well, that’s convincing.

Personally, I couldn’t care less when (or if) these two walk down the aisle. I think they should just buy a private island and take their 8,000 kids and just be away from society as large forever. What do you think, though? Secretly married already?

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decided to put out their own wine earlier this month and it was apparently a pretty shrewd business choice, as it’s all sold out already pretty much everywhere in the first 24 hours. Note to buyers: this shit is not polyjuice potion. You will not suddenly look like Brad or Angie by drinking their shitty alcohol. At $139 for a case, it needs to have magical properties because I’m a cheapskate.

From Yahoo News:

I don’t know, I kind of don’t get the draw. I suppose Brangelina fans are going to grab it up, but do Brangelina actually have 6,000 fans? (Well, 1,000, since that’s how many cases there were.) I guess I’d try it for a laugh – so long as it was free.

Oh man, I love the National Enquirer. Jest all you like, but half of the time they get their stories right and before anyone else. The other half of the time I think they just make shit up and I think this falls under that half.

Apparently Angelina Jolie told Brad Pitt that compared to Colin Farrell he sucks in bed and now Brad Pitt is an alcoholic or something.

from The National Inquirer

Brad caught Angie red-handed, admitting that she thinks he’s a so-so lover. Ever since then, he’s been on a drunken rampage – consuming copious amounts of his favorite beer and red wine…he’s showed no signs of slowing down on the booze. He’s been drink­ing to forget about the image of Angie and Colin together.

One might ask, how did he catch her “red-handed”? Was she spray-painting “COLIN FARRELL IS BETTER AT SEX THAN BRAD PITT” on their garage? No. Allegedly Jolie was talking on the phone to ex Billy Bob Thornton while Pitt was out but then he forgot his wallet and then this scene from Beverly Hills, 90210 played out:

As he walked into their bedroom, Brad overheard Angie say that he was a great guy, but Colin was the best lover she’d ever had! Then Angie told Billy Bob that her love life with Brad had gone cold, and she missed the wild, passionate sex she’d had with Colin!

Who was there to know this private information? This is like when Charles Foster Kane died whispering his last words, “Rosebud” but the nurse was in the other room. Whatever, this is great, let’s just keep going with this. Brad “exploded” and,

Demanded that Angie tell him everything about her relationship with Colin. She told Brad that she fell in love with Colin because he was dangerous and spontaneous. She also copped to sending Colin sexy pictures, dirty voice-mails and sexually explicit let­ters during their fling. Angie admitted that she had hoped for a future, includ­ing marriage and kids, with Colin, but he wasn’t ready. She couldn’t deny to Brad that he was her second choice! [...] she thrives on making him jealous.

So now Brad Pitt is all sad and not wanting to marry her, like ever, and is telling her she can’t talk to Colin Farrell.

Okay.

Everyone knows that wine is only good for vineyards, first dates and the desperate and otherwise dry. Still, lots of people seem to like it because it’s classy and you can drink it by the bottle without feeling like the alcoholic you probably are, so it only makes sense that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gotten in on the action and are releasing their own range, fresh from their very own vineyard!

From Decanter:

Under the agreement, the Perrin family, long-term owners of Château Beaucastel in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and one of the most renowned names in the Rhone Valley, are now responsible for both the winemaking and distribution of the Jolie-Pitts’ Château Miraval in Correns.

The Perrins began working with the estate from harvest 2012, Marc Perrin told Decanter.com. Mutual friends put the two sides in touch, he said.

When the Jolie-Pitts first moved in to Château Miraval they signed a three-year lease to rent the 500-ha estate, but its AOC Côtes de Provence continued to be made by the previous winemaker.

They have since purchased the property – reportedly for around US$60m – and have been carrying out extensive renovations.

‘The focus will now be more about Miraval itself that any specific cuvée,’ said Perrin. ‘They (the Jolie-Pitts) want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can. They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery – where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks – to reworking the labels across the range of wines.’

The first Perrin-made Miraval rosés should be on the market next month, March 2013, with the white wines arriving at the end of the summer.

I generally think most wines taste like a fresh blend of stewed ass (besides Riesling – I do like Riesling), so I don’t particularly have high hopes for this. I’d rather a cider – or better yet, an aged Scotch whisky – if I’m going to drink at all. However, I’m sure idiots will buy this by the bucketload simply for the Brangelina name.

Speaking of Brangelina, I’m not sure if this sounds totally like them or not at all like them. They tend to pass by the mainstream celeb entrapments like product endorsements (save Chanel, but that’s couture) and the like, but at the same time, money talks. What do you think? Will you be ponying up for some Miraval?