Brad Pitt versus paps: A bloody turf war at Miraval!

Paparazzi cameramen dressed in camouflage were found Thursday hiding on the 1,235-acre grounds of Miraval, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's chateau in southern France.

A major brawl broke out, resulting in injuries and legal complaints.

But, according to the Associated Press, the paps and the head of security for Maison Jolie-Pitt tell contradictory tales.

Freelance photographer Luc Goursolas claims he broke a guard's finger and bit another guard. But that's because they were hitting him with a walkie-talkie, punching and kicking him in the head — a wound that needed three stitches.

"I was pouring blood. I threw myself at them, put blood all over them, and told them that I had HIV so they would stop hitting me," Goursolas told AP on Friday.

Tony Webb, head of Miraval security, said Goursolas went "berserk" without cause and that his guards did not punch the photographer.

Goursolas insists he wasn't on the property but in the woods nearby. "The forest belongs to everyone. I wasn't in their garden," he told AP. Oh, and he didn't take any photos. Neither did the camo-clad video camerawoman with him. That's what they said.

OK, then why the blend-into-the-forest camo gear?

"We weren't going to wear a red sweater," she told the AP reporter.

The suspected paps were about 600 yards from the house, on a wooded hill, where it's believed the pix that hit the Web earlier this week were taken. According to AP, the security head described the equipment as "camouflaged" and said the photog was "there for a good stay."

Local police spokeswoman Capt. Olivia Poupot told AP that both sides filed legal complaints accusing the other of battery and causing injury. Goursolas said he also filed complaints for illegal detention and arrest.

Poupot sounded circumspect about the confrontation.  "One can imagine that if you discover someone in your garden who is taking your photo, then you're not necessarily going to politely show them the way out."

"This kind of thing is really not the type of problem that interests us," she told AP. "There are, in my opinion, far more important things than paparazzi taking photos of a glamour couple."

Glamour couple? Jeez, snooty much?

Yeah, but Madame (May I call you Madame?), thing is, first it's paparazzi, next it could be murderers or kidnappers.

Maybe it's time to move. Malibu offers more privacy and protection, seems to me. Surely Brad and Angie can find someone to sublet the darn castle and come back home.

Photos: Brad, Angie and the brood in Chicago on Aug. 11, 2007. Angie with Shiloh in Chicago, Aug. 11, 2007. (WireImage)

Comments

[Tina]

They have security and their security did it's job. People got shoved. I'm sure the French police DO have lots of bigger problems.

[IClavdivs]

Suggestion to Jolie and Pitt, stop whoring your kids out to the media, maybe then the paparazzi won't take much interest in making money off you!

So, the paparazzi camo themselves to get on your property to take pictures? get over it. Think of them as people looking for crumbs of that $11m you are getting off OK! for selling them your babies for charity.

And yes, the police spokesperson called it, they have better things to do than guard these overhyped, glamour coupled/elebrities.

Brad, your ego called, it said it has been overworked in recent years.

[wiki]

brad and ange need to get back home make themselves safe and sue the editors of these gutter magazines that pay for unauthorised photos

[Katherine]

Oh, please. Are people really defending these paparazzi? The paparazzi were hounding this couple way before their little girl was even born. They were even following their son to school. There were paparazzi hounding them from the start. The reason Pitt decided to sell the photos of their daughter in the first place and use the money for charity is exactly because the paps were already making tons of money violating their privacy. Pitt said something like he wanted to channel some of that obscene amounts of money away from the tabloid industrial complex and into doing some good in the world. Bravo to Pitt for trying to turn the media created circus into something good.

For whatever reason the world is fascinated by this couple and their family and can't get enough of them. Pitt has always seemed to handle the intrusion into his life with a lot of grace and good humor. His rep in the industry has always been one of the better ones - so the "ego" comment above is simply clueless about the reality of the industry.

Though Pitt and Jolie are usually prone to just ignoring the tabloids and paparazzi I hope they fight back this time.

[IClavdivs]

Katherine, of course you are right. It is about Brad Pitt working relentlessly to stop the rags from making money, that is why he and Jolie has a broker to negotiate deals of pictures of their kids to the highest bidder. I see that they went for OK! this time around. I guess it is not because they've realised that OK! will give them maximum exposure in the parts of the world where they have sister publications. Yep, it is because they just want to channel the money into a good cause.

It is about their ego and brand, they are selling those for the maximum. Of course, we will all just join the pretence that it is all for a good cause. I mean, what was the world like before they decided to save it?

Ego and brand, that is what it is about.

The paparazzi is bothering them? you reap what you sow.

[Kathleen]

The French paparazzi aren't content with having killed Princess Diana. Do they want to pursue the Pitt family to their death as well?

[ebmo]

The paparazzi have been invasive and dangerous to many many celebs. someone is going to get hurt again, as in the aforementioned case of Princess Diana.

Celebs, whether you like them or not, DO have a right to privacy. They also have a right to go about their daily business without being mobbed or having their children terrorized.

Celebs try to do "damage control" by posing when at events, (that being part of the job) or giving interviews but it never seems to be enough.

I cannot imagine how frustrating it is not to be able to be in your own home without having to worry about who has a telephoto lens aimed at you, or who might be stalking you and / or your kids.

I am not a huge Britney Spears fan but it still disgusted me that that poor woman had to have every inch of her breakdown plastered on magazine covers. I honestly thought she would be the next victim.

It also disgusted me to see photos of Paul Newman leaving Sloan Kettering for rumored cancer treatment.

Let these people live in peace!

[TTitan2]

Clavdis, You are the one that said they sold the pics to OK! Nowhere in Katherine's post was there a mention of selling the pictures to OK. I have to agree with Katherine. The paps have been hounding them ever since photogs got a real big payday with those picures of Brad & Angelina on the beach in Africa. How can you defend the paps that were caught on their property. They were in cammo clothes, with tents and food. The male photog had on one of those backpacks with a built in water supply. They were hunkered down for quite a while. They said they didn't take photos, but I bet they had a mac-book and wi-fi the one's they took earlier in the week that are in In Touch magazine. The male photog had a few days growth of a beard on his face!! The paps get on their property, and the next step will be into their home and living area. As someone elsewhere said, Brad & Angelina should move someplace where the law is that you can shoot someone on sight when they trespass on your property. Then put the carcass on the hood of a truck like an ornament, drive it around and then dump it in front of the other paps at the gate! Maybe then they will get the message not to treesspass on your private property!

[Mariam]

I don't know what all this fuss about the photos and Angelina and Brad selling them are about. As long as there are people who will pay that sort of money for the photos, they should sell them. Anyways they're giving the money to charity. I think it's a beautiful thing. Why not? They're a super couple, blessed and very generous. Go ahead and sell them if you want. Protect your rights and beat up anyone trespassing on your property.