If Brad and Angelina split, would they be Bran and Gelina? [Updated]

Rumors of a Brangelina breakup were flying over the weekend, fueled by a detailed News of the World article that was picked up by the Drudge Report. And now sources close to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie tell People magazine that it's all a steaming pile of storytelling.

Oh yeah, Johnny Depp died over the weekend too. Except that he didn't (no heart attack, no car crash). And Brad and Angie already broke up last June. Except they didn't.

[Updated at 1:01 p.m.: What's the best way for megastars to cope with a "breakup"? Apparently, it helps to plan out complementary attire for when they attend the Oscars together in March. At least, that's what an Angie-close source told HollywoodLife exclusively Monday in confirming that the two are still a couple.]

[Updated at 12:09 p.m., Jan. 26: In yet another indication of how rock solid this story is and always has been, other sources now say the two, despite still being a "two," will not attend the Oscars together. Angie will be busy on a film costarring the not-dead Depp, says E!, and Brad, well, who knows what he's up to. Are you cracking up as much as we are over this Very Serious Business? Judging by comments, not all of you are.]

We knew two weeks ago that Brangelina would not be attending the Golden Globe Awards. At the time, hubbub was made about "no showdown" between Angelina and presenter Jennifer Aniston so close to the fifth anniversary of the split that ended in Brad and Jen's divorce.

The Daily Mail tabloid out of the U.K., which is sticking with the NOTW story of the breakup, also reports the scandalous news that Brad and Jen were both at the Hope for Haiti telethon, although -- gasp! -- not with each other. That's the same Daily Mail that on Saturday had Jen gazing "adoringly" at Gerard Butler during the telethon, so believe whatever you want. Maybe it's all just New Orleans' fault.

News of the World, incidentally, is owned by the same company that owns the Sun tabloid -- which today has Brad's brother Doug reportedly "begging" the actor to end it with Angie, in a story that then repeats the info from the NOTW piece.

Can we start a rumor that Brad, rather than stepping up to support Haiti, was actually at the studio for a liaison with one of the other 100-plus actors and luminaries who participated? Oh wait, then we'd be making things up. 

We're going to go wash up now.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and son Maddox arrive at the premiere of "Invictus" in Beverly Hills on Dec. 3, 2009. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

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Comments

[CDZ from the Ministry]

@Big Sam -- Christie D'Zurilla here from the Ministry. Thanks for your input.

What follows are my thoughts as an individual, and are not specifically the policy of the Los Angeles Times.

I hope readers of this celebrity gossip blog can clearly understand the nature of the sourcing in posts like this one. I give readers credit for being able to judge information on its merits, without automatically being sucked into the idea that "if it's in the newspaper" -- which this blog isn't, incidentally -- it must be true.

If you read the post carefully, you'll see it's a sampled roundup of many of the stories that are out there, juxtaposed to show how it all does not add up. The debunking of the wildest rumors is included as a mild sort of public service, actually, and the sarcasm around that was intended to set the tone for the post. Heck, the stupid headline was intended to set the tone for the post!

Are we "better than that"? If we were, I suppose we wouldn't report the lighter side of celebrity at all, as we do specifically in this blog. But the fact is, it's a large part of entertainment culture, and like it or not that makes it a large part of American culture and conversation.

//cdz

[Brenda]

Maybe Tiger Woods has started this rumour by paying off certain media outlets..you know... to get the attention off him for a while? (while he still has money left :>)

[Brenda]

Let me add that maybe these 2 fight. So? I've been married 26 yrs and we do that still from time to time :>) Used to do it alot more, but we're older and too tired most days to bother now.

We love each other enough to do so and not break up over something as silly as arguing over nothing, and the things worth arguing about simply need to be handled. Seems few are willing to understand that these days. Probably Brad and Angie do. Those close by not TOO close are the only ones that would be spreading gossip in the first place.

[esann]

gald to hear the split. the time Jolie to payback for marriage hecker.Children are not the main facter that Brad has to decide in partners' lives.

[Andrew]

for esann
You are so stupid to comment like that, but probably I'm more stupid to answer. It's so obvious you live in Jennifer Aniston's skin. Has it ever passed your mind that Brad Pitt was simply fed up of his wife and that maybe he fell in love with another woman that had an approach to the world other than her hair and body? It's time that Aniston takes her responsabilities too for the end of her marriage. She actually admitted in 2003 that Brad was not the love of her life. She nailed it! She is the love of her life. Time this lady grows up and so with her bawling fans. Even if Angelina and Brad should split he would never go back to that whiny lady.

[peterc]

I quite liked the headline, actually.