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Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie [Hardcover] by Ian Halperin
Ian Halperin, New York Times bestselling author of Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson, explores the relationship of the world's most famous celebrity couple with exclusive revelations and personal anecdotes. This Supercouple, unlike any other, consistently turns heads, rolls cameras, and delivers action. The rugged, yet debonair, actor Brad Pitt (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Inglorious Basterds) and the always sexy and illustrious actress Angelina Jolie (Girl Interrupted, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Changeling) have made a lasting impression through their movies and their magic . . . --Find out the truth behind Angelina Jolie's notorious French kiss with her brother James at the 2000 Oscars --Learn about her childhood and estrangement from her father Jon Voight --Discover the truth of Brad's marriage to everybody's friend, Jennifer Aniston, and of her readiness to have children --Read about the true circumstances of the affair between Brad and Angelina Jolie along with their stormy & unstable relationship --Find out about Angelina's ongoing lesbian relationship with her former Foxfire co-star Jenny Shimizu
Product Details
- Hardcover: 285 pages
- Publisher: Transit Publishing; 1 edition (December 1, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0981239668
- ISBN-13: 978-0981239668
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
This book really tells it like it is, finally !!! This is a most troubled screwed up woman, who has a great publicist that she pays big time. Example: When the publicity came out about her incentuous relationship with her brother, her publicist has her marry Billy Bob Thorton to take the attention off the the relationship with her brother. It worked. Then she dumps Thorton (who wasn't worth keeping anyway and she never really loved). And oh my, what a wonderful "earth mother". She is so loudly praised for her being an ambassador or whatever the hell she does in other lands and trust me, she has an agenda for herself in doing that. This woman cares about no one but herself. She is totally narcissistic (Yes, look it up in the dictionary if you know not what it means). I'm sure I will get a lot of flack from this review but as far as I'm concerned, this book tells it right. Even Morton's new book is not as revealing as this one. I loved reading this book. For the first time, someone really tells the truth and behold, Angelina Jolie is just another totally f***ed up woman, who albeit is physically beautiful and at most points can act, who in the end, will end up dying alone, wondering what happened. Poor thing . . .
Call me a victim of the initial Brangelina snow job. I bought into Jolie's whole act of being a selfless humanitarian and earth mother. What I found out as a result of this book is that she is a shrewd and clever manipulator of the press who lacks a bit of a conscience.
After breaking up the marriage of Pitt and Aniston, Jolie went on a calculated campaign to smear Aniston all over the media. Aniston had two miscarriages while with Pitt, yet Jolie spread the rumor, with the help of Geyer Kosinski (her manager), that Aniston did not want children. Jolie and Kosinski knew that would appeal to woman who might otherwise see Jolie as a man-stealing witch.
Another shocking revelation in the book is that Jolie was diagnosed as a psychopath by her high school psychiatrist and that Jolie's marriage to Billy Bob Thorton was designed to deflect from her incestuous relationship with James Haven, her brother.
From reading the other reviews on this site, I can see that the Angelina Jolie and Geyer Kosinski attack machine are in full force. Just as Aniston was trashed after Jolie stole her husband, it seems like the gruesome twosome are going after this author, Ian Halperin. The official Jolie/Kosinski party line is that the book reveals nothing new. I beg to differ. This book is a very astute study on how Hollywood manipulates the media and how, sadly, the press has become so complicit with these "beautiful people."
This book is difficult to put down once you begin reading the story of Brangelina as Ian Halperin has written it; it's at times like peeking inside a person's house without their knowledge in that it pulls away the veil of secrecy that Angelina Jolie has so carefully woven around her life. The book goes into detail about her early life, her high school days, her sexual awakening, her use of others to further her image with the public, and her drug use.
It is written honestly and non-biased so that one can form a clear idea of whe workings behind the biggest liar and manipulater in HW. Angelina Jolie must be very crafty, street smart to have gotten away with so much for such a long time without anyone before Mr. Halperin coming forth to tell her true story .
When you receive your copy of this book, turn the telephone off, tell all your friends and neighbors you will be gone for the day, draw your blinds and enjoy the voyage of truth about Brangelina, the frauds.
There is a principal called the Pinata Syndrome, renown publicist Howard Bragman likes to tell the story that the media says what is the point of building someone up if we can not bring them down. His first advice to A list stars is , live a simple and clean life. Well, little too late there for Brange. Second piece, "get your secrets out before anyone else does" , ah, well, too late for that too. This book is full of little sneaky surprises! I loved it! It is a fascinating read in the lives of two people who thought they had beat the game and were above the rules. They did follow some of the "Ten Pr Commandments" . After all Brad is considered the Zen Master and Angelina is the best as remaking herself over and over again.
They know that PR1-all press is not good press, which is why right now the Brange machine is trying to convince the masses this book is full of mistakes and no real news. I read so many accounts of what was in this before I read it, and when I did read the book I so surprised at how different it was and wondered, what book are these other reporters reading, or do they really read the book at all?
PR2-Perception is reality, as I will explain, one of the most shocking things in the book is how this commandment was used against Jennifer, it does not matter if it is true, Angelina Jolie knows if it is repeated enough people will believe it, and even today they still believe that Jen does not want children and that Mickey Brett is wanted for murder in another country. Both are lies.
PR3- The Vision Thing, Create a Brand, well they certainly did that, although as the book reveals who the mastermind really is behind this and who he has done it for in the past with great success.
PR4-The truth seeks it own level..eventually.If you are attacked with a untruth take comfort it will be revealed at some point, but if you plant a lie, and forget about it, you are planting your own landmine. As Howard says, when a president leaves office there is a rush to write tell alls, when a star reaches A list people write tell alls, and the books are fairly accurate, the truth, the ugly or not,inevitably surfaces...eventually. This book ladies and gentlemen is Brad and Angelina Jolie's LANDMINE.
PR-5-The Media will not wait for you. example Tiger Woods. nuff said
PR-6-There is no wall between the public and the private, welcome to the fishbowl, you are always being watched.
PR-7- The medium is still the message. A story is only as credible as the newspaper magazine TV show or blog (he states he leaks to the NE, and then denies it) lol
PR-8-Energize your own base- Identify your core supporters and never forget them. A forgotten base can go like a jilted lover. Oh Brad, need we say more.
PR-9- They're only building you up to knock you down more. Don't put yourself on a pedestal. Too late, should have listened.
PR-10 Everyone has a second act. This Angelina Jolie knows only too well, and this is what the book is really about.
Public Relation Commandments by Howard Bragman.
I have followed this couple for awhile and I could not imagine there would be much in this book that would surprise me , but I could not have been more wrong. If I could be surprised, with as much as I knew, ( I had been a devoted fan of one of them for a long time in the past)how can these reporters find nothing of interest?
I have read many of Mr. Halperin's books and enjoy them because of his style of writing. He takes the reader on a journey, down a yellow brick road in a sense. In the beginning in almost all of his books he sets out on a mission to prove something, and in almost all of his books what he proves in the end is usually not what he set out too. This is because he has a strong sense of fairness and compassion, funny at times, and others conflicted, and while I don't always agree with his assessment it is that style and wit that draws me to his books. It personalizes the story also because he is in it as a central character. As the investigative journalist he also writes about what he is feeling and experiencing so you get to know the author somewhat, so anyone that has followed his work knows that he likes to rescue his subject. It was because of that I fully expected him to lead her down a trail like a lamb to the slaughter, and then ride in on a white horse and swoop her up and rescue her from the sword. Well, I was wrong , again, for the most part. He was compassionate and tried to understand ofter and look at it from each side, but swoop he did not.
Fair and balanced, yes he was, all the way through, and yet at times I could sense he felt a little conflicted, frustrated, respect for them, and a little disgust at other times.Those are some strong emotions for a book to reveal almost nothing, as one reviewer claimed. That is not true of course, I could write pages on things that are revealed. Let's start with what one reviewer was bothered by, and see where it leads us.
Her first complaint was that there was little discussion about the Jolie- Pitt home life.Well she is right about that, the book is not about their sex life or about what they eat for breakfast, or how they take a bath, or how big their bed is, or what their bedroom is like, or how the kids behave. He does not need to tell us any of that because Angelina Jolie has not shut up about it for four long years. Why I ask would we need an author to tell us the same thing we can google. He does tell us however how Angelina grew up as a child. He chronicles this quite nicely. He states on page 17 in the chapter titled "Daddy's Girl" that to understand your subject the logical place to start is at the beginning, and that is what he does.He takes us through her life, he used her words, her shows us how close she really was to her father , how much she loved him, how close the entire family was always, and yet she tells a completely different story today. In 2001 Angelina said, "I never remember a time when I needed my father and he wasn't there." Her kindergarten teacher , Rhona Mercer echos that, "he was always around", yet in 2003, Jolie said "he was not there". p. 23. That of course came after their estrangement. The only damaging comments come from Angelina herself, and that is because she can not keep her lies straight. Halperin does not call them lies, he is more of a gentleman than that, he refers to them as misdirections. However, let's call it what it is. The New York Times called her manipulative, Brad preferred to call her savvy, but as you read this book you do not get savvy out of manipulative, misdirection, lying, calculating, dishonest, all you get is a picture of the extent someone will go to at the expense of another's pain to push herself to the top and take what she wants. No dignity and no integrity at all.
Her second complaint was that there were only six chapters on Pitt and not much to say about him of interest, while we heard quite a lot about Angelina, and boy do we ever, things she does not want to tell you. There also was some thing about Pitt that was quite astounding besides him being a good ole boy from the mid west who loves and respects his parents, smokes a little pot, and is a good father. What is that? Well it seems he was furious when he found out that Angelina was the one who started the campaign to slander Jennifer in order to make herself look better. She knew that when the news leaked that they split and people suspected she was the cause, that she would be seen as a home wrecker again, and she was. What did she do, she began leaking stories with the help of Trevor and her manager to convince the public that Jennifer did not want to have children, she wanted a career,. This is in the Brad and Angelina Jolie chapter, page 223. The source is named, and worked for 20th Century FOX. Halperin discusses the nursery that cost $300000.00 in the Pitt home that Jennifer was overseeing, the two miscarriages, and the fact that MSNBC was going to announce her pregnancy June 2004 before the second miscarriage. Then he reveals that Jolie released a story saying Jen was doing movies and did not want to have children and and Brad did, that was his reason for leaving. "Pitt does not in fact seem to have been complicit in what was proving to be a mean spirited but effective campaign to shift public opinion against Aniston, Jolie, however, was. It was Angelina who came up with the whole story about Jennifer not wanting kids" a source connected to the publicity department of 20th century FOX , which produced Mr and Mrs Smith., She was convinced that is the story that would resonate with all these women who saw her as a man stealing bitch" She was right, it worked , her Q factor began to rise. Trevor Nielson and her brother James Have also helped her destroy Jen's image.p.234 Today woman still believe this, and today Brad still silently sits by and says nothing other than the two times he mumbled it was bull back in 2005. He has said nothing through out the four years of scripted bs that Angelina Jolie has shoved down the public's throat, the pregnancy sex, the beautiful babies, the baby daddy and the barren ex wife. Nothing to tell in this book, if this was all that was in the book it would be worth buying, but this is just one small example of what is NOT in this book.
On to her next druthers, and that would be the sources. Now I know she did not read this book because had she this would not even be in her review as it was fully explained by a journalist that worked for the Hollywood Reporter. That is all I will say on that, it is on page 234 , the first paragraph, and some of the names of the sources are listed on the page called Acknowledgment. I am a little bit surprised to see people saying that there are no sources names , I am wondering if they are going off hearsay. If one has the book you can see the list of names, and it is fairly easy to match them with the source referenced, I could , and it did not take me long to do it either. Also, if it is a help each of these "sources" signed a contract , they are "real" people , so the author has he has their name on a piece of paper with a statement. That is so he can use it as a back up if need be, and again, Mr. Hollywood Reporter explains this, I would think though since she is a journalist she would understand how this works.
Undercover Missions: I had to check that one twice, serious? The author makes an acknowledgment to his business partner in the front of his book, and the name of the business is [...], so I would assume that this reporter for USA Today would know that this Mr. Halperin works this way as part of his persona. I had to chuckle a bit with that one. That is what he does? You know who Borat is right? Works something like that. Did anyone ever watch Columbo, I loved that show. He use to play stupid to get the goods on his subject. Sort of the same idea. You want to know colorful? I have a friend who once dressed as a hobo and slept with the homeless when writing a book about a murder, real case. Very effective, and dangerous, it is called investigative journalism. Police women pretending to be a hooker to catch a john. At least he did not sleep with Angelina. Now that would be a tell all. Something tells me that would really make her mad, but lets get back to the investigation.
Alleged deceptions, no I don't think there is anything alleged about her being in the psychiatric hospital. Now what is intriguing about that was she did not (obviously) disclose this on her applications for adoption, because if you go to the State Department web sites of those countries, (not Cambodia) you can not adopt if you have mental problems, and she had as diagnosis of Psychopath (p.38) still sitting in her file at file at Beverly Hills High school, where she was required to see a psychotherapist 3 times a week. How many people knew that, show of hands, I didn't, did everyone reading this? I bet if I were to stand on 6th avenue in Manhattan and take a poll, no one would know. I bet I could get the same results in Hollywood, and in Paris, in Chicago, in Miami, just pick any city. Everyone knows she checked into a mental ward for 72 hours , that she hired a hit man to kill her, that she cut herself so bad and while having sex with her live in boyfriend at 14 she had to be taken by ambulance to emergency, but a psychopath? NO, should we have guessed. well of course we should have. Would Mr. Halperin have gotten than if he did not go undercover, of course not. Would he know that someone in the audience at the awards said "Do you think she is f**king him?" when James pulled her to him and kissed her before she went to get her award for Girl Interrupted , no.p. 130.
He wrote a fair and balanced account of this couple. He gives them respect for being hard working humanitarians, for loving their children, for being talented in their craft. No where does he state that the book is a TELL ALL by the way.In fact there is a hint in one part of the book where he is researching the adoptions of Maddox and Zahara, and if one is well versed on this area and paying attention you will note that he ask some questions that are indicative that he left out the the "tell all" part.This is in the chapter called The New Image. I happen to agree with Roger Friedman , she is the Mighty Hypocrite, instead of a Humanitarian , this is where Mr Halperin and I part ways. He believes she is genuine in those endeavors. I do believe she was at one time, I do not now.
Infidelity, this is where he definitely left out the tell all in my opinion, but it is very easy to read between the lines. However, he certainly covers it well in regards to Brad and Jennifer. He details when the affair started, the cooling off period , that Pitt considered dumping Angelina and staying with Jen (that appears to be because she got pregnant but then miscarried) and the people that saw them making out , all of this of course long before he separated. Now I can tell you readers one person that this will be news too, or maybe many people it will be, and that is every person that was watching Larry King Live when Brad Pitt was on in December 2008 and he was asked what is was like to fall in love on the set , and Brad looked in the camera and at Mr King and lied like the cheater that he is, and said that it never happened until after he and Jennifer were done, and that what people did not understand is that they filmed for a year. He was referring of course to the series of filming that went on and the last series was two weeks in 2005. They began pre-production in late 2003 , which is when they began the dirty hoochie, then stopped so he could go do Oceans 12 in April 04. They resumed filming in August -Sept 04, for about 2 months and then not again until Feb or Mar 05 for re-shoots for 2 weeks. Now mind you , a former employee of Pitt's said, page 234, "Of course he was sleeping with Angelina most of that time, but he didn't hide it because he was a prick," the man said. "He hid it because he was too nice a guy. He didn't want to hurt Jen. He still loved her, and he didn't know how to break it to her. In fact, for a while there he genuinely thought of ending the thing with Angelina Jolie and going back to Jen. I'm not sure what finally happened. or why he decided to end it, but would you rather he did what Billy Bob did to the Dern chick? Was he a coward for not telling Jen sooner? Probably. But what would you do in that situation? It wasn't easy for him. I doubt if he forgives himself to this day."
Ahh, another revelation, did anyone know he was thinking of dumping Angelina Jolie for his wife? I wonder how many people knew that little piece of information. I am sure we all knew he is a liar and a cheat. It is nice to finally see people come forward with it and verity it. This is not the only verification in the book either, there are others. I particularly liked the ones all chronicled nicely that showed how important it was to Jennifer to have a baby, how emotional she was about it. Who can forget her response to being accused of not wanting children. Still to this day you can not convince many otherwise, The well laid out plans that Angelina orchestrated can not be erased,and Brad Pitt still has done nothing to try and repair that. The book reveals this quite nicely.
Revealing Theories, is one of my favorite because it is where so much could have been revealed to you by the reporter in USA Today, yet was not. Instead more more complaints that he did not talk to Brad of Angelina Jolie. When Harvey Levine created Celebrity Justice (he is acknowledged in the front of Mr Halperin's book and he writes the Afterword in the back of Mr. Bragman's book) his premise was to eliminate the fear and operate out of fairness."Who cares if a big actor will not do a interview with us?" If we had a story that was fair and accurate , whether it was flattering or not, or MO was to call the publicist for comment, not permission." Mr. Halperin did just that, they chose not to make a comment. They had three choices available to them, they could Press Agentry, Suppress Agentry, or Oppress Agentry. If they had nothing to hide they could have spoken to Mr Halperin and chosen option number one, but since that is not the case, moving on. Apparently a combination of Option 2 & 3 worked well in the case of Mickey Brett and that book never saw the printing press, but Mr Singer was not quire that successful with Mr. Halperin and many are now reaing this book, so I presume from what I am seeing in the the media the plan is to use Option 3 and try to Oppress Mr Halprerin in any possible way that Bangelina possibly can. I wonder if they have even read the book. He did do the knight on the white horse at the end of the book, and for both of them. I am guessing some of these people reviewing this book did not make it page 269.
In the Conclusion he ask WHO IS BRANGELINA? Of Brad he says this, " Brad Pitt , the wholesome Midwesterner who charmed Hollywood and quite a few women is by all accounts a very nice guy. Angelina Jolie is more complicated to be sure, but she appears to have risen above her flamboyant and often troubled past and created stability for herself. Both are acclaimed actors and both are humanitarians. He goes on to say they are hard working and they have done extremely well in their profession, and they give back and use their wealth to influence others and do a lot of good. He admits they are have used the smoke and mirrors of the Hollywood dream making machine. to their advangage, and the clock is ticking . He hints that the truth of the matter has yet to be told, and yet there is still much in these pages that many do not know, have never heard. The chapter on "Billy Bob" is one that is so carefully laid out that if it was a closing argument the verdict would be a definite "guilty",and the outcry from the galley would be one of shock, because I dare say, "to borrow that phrase" no one sitting in that court room would have heart that testimony. Maybe the media knew, but no one else.The chapter on Brotherly Love, and Brothers and Sisters, likewise most certainly would draw a collective breath of disbelief, except it is just so well explained and so believable, and while we knew the premise, there is so much that is there that is made crystal clear. Daddy's tears suddenly and for no reason after all those years, what did he discover? So much for us as readers to discover that I hope Mr. Halperin writes a follow up book, "Brangelina: What I Didn't Tell You and Why. Perhaps that could be after this Fairytale in reverse is over.
It was nice not to read a 'glowing' report on this fake over privilged couple. I couldn't understand the hate spouted at Miss Aniston by the media and her fans and this explained it.
This is a must read. One of the best books of 2009 for sure. Halperin has done it again! You thought you knew Brad and Angie think again.
Received new book, exactly as ordered. On time, before Christmas, since it was a gift. Would recommend for anyone who is a Brangelina watcher. Also would purchase from the seller again.
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