Jolie twins doctor admits to pre-birth pressure
July 15, 2008
From Reuters:
The doctor who delivered Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s twins over the weekend has admitted to feeling the pressure of dealing with one of the world’s most famous couples.
Oscar-winning actress Jolie gave birth to son Knox Leon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline by caesarean section at the Lenval hospital in the southern French city of Nice late on Saturday.
“For sure,” Michel Sussmann said, when asked on Europe 1 radio whether he was nervous before the operation.
“It wasn’t pressure on a medical level, because I have been practicing for a certain number of years, but it’s true that there was pressure due to the couple’s fame.
“I was assisted by a team that was totally competent, so things happened as I wanted them to happen — simply and efficiently.”
Dozens of reporters, cameramen and photographers have been camped outside the Lenval hospital on the glamorous Promenade des Anglais waterfront to report on the birth.
Several U.S. networks added to their ranks on Monday in preparation for a news conference scheduled for Tuesday and the couple’s departure either by road or by air.
Nice Matin newspaper, which broke the news of the birth on Sunday, dedicated several pages to the event in its Monday edition and featured a photograph of Pitt and Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi signing the birth certificates.
Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt welcome twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline
July 13, 2008
From OMG:
PARIS (AP) — The Brangelina twins are here: Angelina Jolie has given birth to a girl and a boy.
The obstetrician who delivered the twins, Dr. Michel Sussmann, told The Associated Press that the actress, the babies and Jolie’s partner, actor Brad Pitt, “are doing marvelously well.”
Sussmann said Jolie gave birth to a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline, by Cesarian section on Saturday night.
He told the AP on Sunday morning that the boy weighed 5.03 pounds and the girl 5 pounds. The 33-year-old actress gave birth at around 8 p.m on Saturday night, the doctor told The AP by telephone.
Pitt was there during the operation, said the doctor, who delivered the twins at the seaside Lenval hospital in Nice in southern France.
“Everything is going well,” said Sussmann. “The mother, the babies, the father are doing marvelously well.”
He said the Cesarian was moved forward from its originally planned date “for medical reasons” so that the babies could be born “in the best conditions.” Sussman did not give details.
He said Jolie is expected to stay in the hospital for a few more days. The doctor said he believed the baby girl’s middle name was chosen in honor of Jolie’s mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, who died in Jan. 2007 after a 7 1/2-year battle with cancer.
Jolie and Pitt already have four children: Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3, and Shiloh, 2.
Jolie had checked into the hospital late last month to rest and be monitored by her doctor before the birth.
Before that, she, Pitt and their children had moved into a large estate, Miraval, in the French hamlet of Correns, which is just a short helicopter ride from the hospital. Correns is about 60 miles from Nice, a resort on the Mediterranean.
Though the lenses of the world’s paparazzi had been trained on maternity wards across the French Riviera, Jolie managed to slip unobserved into the clinic, which has magnificent views of the Mediterranean, reportedly arriving by helicopter on the hospital’s rooftop helipad.
Pitt was seen coming and going after Jolie’s hospitalization became public.
The first photos of the new twins are expected to fetch millions of dollars.
Paparazzi gathered outside the hospital in Nice on Sunday morning, hoping for a shot of Pitt.
Local newspaper Nice Matin, which first broke news of the birth, reported Sunday that the couple have sold rights for the first photo of their newly enlarged family to a U.S. publication, which it did not name, and that the proceeds would go to charity.
The newspaper gave no source for that information. But the doctor told The AP the couple decided to announce the birth to Nice Matin first because of its links to Nice. The newspaper called the twins “the most famous babies in the world.”
Earlier this week, the hospital said it had coated the windows of Jolie’s room with a special material to prevent paparazzi from taking unauthorized pictures of the star couple.
The hospital said photos in magazines and on the Internet which purported to show Jolie and Pitt in their room were fake, either manipulated or showing other patients at the hospital.
Tourists and residents of Nice, a popular resort, welcomed news of the birth. The city’s mayor, Christian Estrosi, had previously told The AP that the twins will always be considered honorary citizens of the city, regardless of whether they opt to obtain French citizenship. Estrosi said it was a “very great honor” for Nice that the Hollywood couple chose to give birth there.
From Reuters:
NICE, France (Reuters) - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, her doctor at a hospital in southern France said on Sunday.
Oscar winner Jolie, 33, had the twins by caesarean section on Saturday evening at the Lenval hospital on the glamorous Promenade des Anglais waterfront drive in Nice. Actor Brad Pitt, the twins’ father, was believed to be at her side.
The girl, named Vivienne Marcheline, weighed 2.27 kg (5.0 lbs) while her brother, Knox Leon, weighed an almost identical 2.28 kg, according to Jolie’s doctor, Michel Sussmann.
“The parents and the babies are in excellent health. Everything is fine,” Sussmann told Reuters. He said the c-section had been planned for a long time but the date was brought forward “for medical reasons”.
Marcheline was the name of Jolie’s mother, also an actress, who died of cancer last year. Marcheline Bertrand raised Jolie and her brother, James Haven, after divorcing their father, actor Jon Voight, when Jolie was a toddler.
U.S. representatives for the couple could not immediately be reached for comment, but Sussmann told People magazine that Pitt, 44, was at Jolie’s side.
Jolie arrived at the Lenval hospital in late June by helicopter from the Provence villa where she and Pitt had been staying with their four other children — Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh.
A crowd of photographers and camera crews gathered outside the building on Sunday morning, braving the hot and humid conditions in hope of a glimpse of family and friends arriving to congratulate the parents.
Newspaper Nice Matin, which broke news of the birth on Sunday, reported that the couple had sold exclusive rights to the first photographs of the twins to an unnamed U.S. magazine for $11 million and would give the money to charity.
Nice Matin said Jolie, who had become weary of being indoors for so long but did not wish to be seen by paparazzi, had taken a walk on the roof of the hospital to take the air just two days before the birth.
The A-list celebrity couple, known in the media as “Brangelina”, moved into a 17th century villa in Provence, France, earlier this year, with paparazzi descending on the village of Correns when news of their arrival leaked out.
Jolie, star of current hit movie “Wanted”, and Pitt, of “Ocean’s Eleven” fame, went public with their relationship after they acted together in the 2005 film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
Jolie confirmed she was expecting twins during an interview at the Cannes film festival in May. Later that month Pitt’s manager was forced to deny a television report that Jolie had given birth.
Angelina Jolie gives birth to babies! Congrats Angelina and Brad.
July 13, 2008
Updated here: Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt welcome twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline
From Intouch:
Sources at the La Fondation Lenval hospital in Nice, France have revealed exclusively to In Touch that Angelina Jolie has given birth to her twins. According to insiders, the 33-year-old had a caesarean today at 6pm French time and delivered two girls. The first baby was born at 6.45 pm and the other at 7pm. The babies are in good health, another insider says. Sources say Brad Pitt was present during the birth. When contacted by In Touch, the hospital’s spokesperson, Nadine Bauer, said that journalists would not be notified ”within minutes” after the birth and that the only way they would be told was by a press release posted on the hospital Web site. Another insider adds that Angelina is expected to leave the hospital with her newborns within 48 hours. Angelina checked into the seafront hospital earlier this month in anticipation of the twins arrival.
Filmgoers Wild For ‘Wall-E’ And ‘Wanted’
June 28, 2008
Sources tell me that very early North American box office numbers show that Disney / Pixar’s Wall-E took in $23M Friday from 3,992 theaters for what should be high $60sM opening weekend including the Saturday matinee bump. This means Wall-E is big, but maybe not the biggest Pixar (which was The Incredibles at $70.5M). Disney is looking for a Best Picture Oscar nomination for the pic, possible with 100% great reviews from top critics and even rival studios bigwigs gushing about the pic: “It’s just adorable and smart and interesting. It has more character development and emotion than any movie I’ve seen this year.” In the No. 2 place, Universal’s Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy starrer Wanted debuted to $18.5M Friday from 3,175 venues for what should be a bigger than expected $50+M weekend. (The studio only expected $35+M.) “In terms of comps, that would be an extraordinary result for an R-rated summer action movie,” a source tells me. - from Nikki
Angelina Jolie Is ‘A Cool Mommy’
June 17, 2008
here’s no doubt that meeting Angelina Jolie can be nerve-wracking – but her Wanted costars say the superstar mom is incredibly down-to-earth.
“It’s a little intimidating, someone like her who is presented as a goddess. [But] it takes, like, 30 seconds and you figure out she’s just a cool woman,” Wanted actor Thomas Kretschmann said at the film’s press day Monday.
The German actor, who plays an assassin in the action flick out June 27, also described Jolie as “a cool mommy.”
- from People
St. John drops Angelina Jolie as its model
June 15, 2008
Design house St. John just jettisoned Angelina Jolie as its celebrity model.
Jolie appeared in the print ads shot by Mario Testino for the past three years for an estimated $12 million. Angelina without a fashion contract? Oh no.
But no hard feelings. Four new models will be used, no notable names yet. New CEO Glenn McMahon says, “It was time to do something new and different.”
- from Latimes
Jennifer Aniston vs. Angelina Jolie: a box-office smackdown
June 12, 2008
t had to happen: Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston will finally get to duke it out.
At the box office.
Both actresses have big movies opening on Oct. 24: Angelina’s “Changeling” and Jennifer’s “He’s Just Not That Into You.”
But “Into You” also stars other appealing actors such as Scarlett Johansson, Ginnifer Goodwin, Drew Barrymore, her boyfriend Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly and Ben Affleck. Aniston plays Affleck’s love interest in the adaptation of the bestselling relationship book that’s also become part of the modern cultural vernacular. Click here to see the trailer on the author’s website.
Director Clint Eastwood’s period mystery, “Changeling,” also stars John Malkovich and Amy Ryan, and already created Oscar buzz for Jolie at the Cannes Film Festival.
My bet? Jennifer will win the box-office battle and Angelina may end up with a little gold Oscar statue.
- from LATimes
Angelina Jolie: Pregnancy sex is awesome!
June 12, 2008
On people saying being pregnant is bad for one’s sex life: “No, I think it’s quite the opposite. It’s great for the sex life. It just makes you a lot more creative. So you have fun, and as a woman you’re just so round and full.”
On anything she’s said that she wishes she hadn’t (like all that business about wearing the vial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around your neck when you two were married): “No! It was never a vial anyway. It was like a flower press. It was like from a slight cut on your finger and you press your fingerprint in. It was kind of a sweet gesture. I thought it was kind of romantic! I still love him dearly and think the world of him and I’m proud to have been his wife for a time. I don’t believe in regrets. It’s a dangerous habit to get into — it makes you pause in your life if you start thinking back and questioning yourself.”
On Brad’s new tattoo: “I drew that. We went to Davos. It’s not that we were bored at the World Economic Forum, but one night we didn’t have anything to do, so I was drawing on his back.”
from JustJared
Angelina Jolie Cancels Wanted Premiere, In Labor?
June 12, 2008
Angelina Jolie’s babies could arrive earlier than anticipated.
Fueling speculation that Angelina will give birth to her twins much sooner than her expected July due date, the world premiere of her new movie, Wanted, has unexpectedly been canceled.
The world premiere was originally slated to take place tomorrow in London’s Leicester Square. However, Angelina’s costar James McAvoy broke the news — in a post on his official blog — that the premiere has been canceled.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” the Atonement star wrote.
A rep for the movie also confirmed to Star that the world premiere has been canceled.
- from Star
Angelina Jolie: Being Pregnant with Twins Was a ‘Shock’
June 12, 2008
Angelina Jolie has talked candidly about her desire to continue expanding her family with Brad Pitt. But when the actress found out she was pregnant with twins, well, even she was taken aback.
“We weren’t expecting twins,” Jolie, 33, tells Entertainment Weekly in a new interview. “So it did shock us, and we jumped to six [children] quickly. But we like a challenge.”
With a house full of kids, Jolie says she needs help – so it’s a good thing there’s family around to pitch in. “[Brad's] mom and dad are on standby to come out and help,” she says.
- From People
Redband Wanted trailer. Angelina Jolie!
June 11, 2008
Exclusive: Angelina Jolie still has not delivered babies
June 10, 2008
The Hollywood Newsroom is the first to report that mother Angelina Jolie and father Brad Pitt, popular actors in Hollywood, have not delivered their twin babies. There has been no birth. No water breaking. No screaming. No crying. Angelina Jolie is still pregnant and Brad Pitt is out buying expensive odd furniture and skydiving with Maddox.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s $140,000 Nursery!
June 9, 2008
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are preparing their L.A. manse for their twin girls. With the help of baby boutique Petit Tresor, the erstwhile Mr. and Mrs. Smith have created a $140,000 nursery that puts J.Lo and Marc Anthony’s baby haven to shame. Team Jolie-Pitt bought organza bassinets ($800), Versailles-style cribs ($3,200) with matching changing tables ($2,800), armoires ($4,500) and silk gliders. They even installed two pink crystal chandeliers for the girls at a cost of $899 each. But the couple bought basics, too, like loads of oh-so-practical cashmere baby toys. We also hear it took a team of three people from the store to assemble the nursery. A couple from Dubai has already called the boutique asking for an identical copy of the Jolie-Pitt nursery. - From NY
Angelina Jolie is armed, dangerous and, oh yeah, pregnant
June 4, 2008
Angelina Jolie has revealed she owns real versions of the guns she toted in the movie Tomb Raider - and she and partner Brad Pitt wouldn’t be afraid to use them. The actress, who is rumoured to have given birth to twin girls Isla and Amelie, says she and Pitt keep a firearm in their house to protect themselves and their expanding brood. ‘If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I’ve no problem shooting them,’ she says with a dry candour.
- From Dailymail
Angelina Jolie confidants: ‘ET’ Idiots knew twins source fake
June 4, 2008
“Entertainment Tonight” aired a story about the birth of Angelina Jolie’s twins despite being repeatedly told beforehand that the report was based on information from someone impersonating Jolie’s assistant, according to documents and two people with knowledge of the exchange.
The celebrity newsmagazine denied Wednesday that it knew about an impostor before the broadcast. The identity of the impostor remained unknown.
On Friday morning, the show posted a story on its Web site and sent an e-mail alert to media outlets saying it had confirmed the birth of Jolie’s twins. The Associated Press picked up the report.
“Entertainment Tonight” did not name its source at the time. It later revealed that the report was based on e-mails from someone it thought was Jolie assistant Holly Goline.
Shortly after the story was posted but several hours before the broadcast aired, Goline told “Entertainment Tonight” that she was not the person with whom they had been corresponding, a person with direct knowledge of the conversation told The Associated Press. That account was confirmed by another person close to Jolie.
“‘Entertainment Tonight’ was told before the broadcast that their information came from an impostor,” said the second person. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The people said there were several conversations Friday, by e-mail, text message and telephone, between Goline and “Entertainment Tonight.” Meanwhile, the story was quickly challenged by several other celebrity news outlets.
The TV show stood by its story Friday night, with host Mary Hart saying on the air, “Just this morning, a source who says she was inside the delivery room tells us yes, the babies were born and yes, mother and babies are fine.”
Later that night, the manager of Jolie’s partner, Brad Pitt, told AP that the babies had not been born.
- from AP
Wanted Trailer in HD
June 3, 2008
‘ET’ finally retracts Jolie twins report. Oops.
June 3, 2008
The birth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s twins is turning into the type of mystery that might make a good movie one day.
The executive producer for “Entertainment Tonight” said Monday that she wanted to “see how this story plays out” before retracting a report that the twins had been born, despite a denial from Pitt’s manager and a claim that someone might be posing as Jolie’s personal assistant to fool reporters.
The TV show reported Friday that twin girls had been born, identifying its source as a person in the delivery room, and quoted another Web site giving the babies’ alleged names.
Rival news organizations quickly shot the story down. The Associated Press, which had picked up the “Entertainment Tonight” report after talking to executives at the show about their source, later quoted Pitt’s manager saying the “ET” story was not true.
“Entertainment Tonight” had removed its story from its Web site after the questions were raised. No mention was made of the story on Monday’s show.
- From NYDailynews
Angelina Jolie being t*tty-f*ck-riffic!
May 31, 2008
No birth for Angelina Jolie. Move along.
May 31, 2008
he Brangelina clan began settling into a villa in the south of France as a report that the couple’s twins had been born were denied by representatives of both parents.
“It’s not true. It’s a rumor,” Brad Pitt’s Los Angeles-based talent manager, Cynthia Pett-Dante, told Reuters in a statement issued by her office.
People magazine quoted an unnamed representative for Angeline Jolie on its Web site saying “Angelina has not given birth. She is fine, enjoying her home and her family in France.”
- From MSNBC
Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt is two. And more famous than you’ll ever be.
May 27, 2008
Brangelina’s French chateau as they wait the twins delivery date
May 26, 2008
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have bought a £35 million chateau in the French Riviera to base their growing family.
The couple are said to have looked at around 100 properties before settling on the 35-bedroom estate.
The sprawling residence comes complete with it’s own vineyard, moat, lake and forest which they bought direct from the owner after spotting the property from the air by helicopter. The pair hope to move in by the beginning of August as they are expecting twins on the 19th.
What the Fuck is Angelina wearing?!
May 25, 2008
Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie in running for Cannes prizes
May 25, 2008
Established Hollywood filmmakers and stars such as Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie were competing against movies from acclaimed international directors for the top honors at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.
Among critical favorites at the 12-day festival, which presented some solid entries though no obvious standouts, was Eastwood’s “Changeling,” starring Jolie in the true-life story of a Los Angeles woman battling corrupt police to find her missing son after authorities return the wrong boy in his place.
Other warmly received tales among the 22 in the festival’s main competition included:
• Laurent Cantet’s “The Class,” a classroom drama shot in a French school using real students and teachers;
• Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas’ “Linha de Passe,” a tale of four brothers in a Brazilian slum;
• Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir,” an animated documentary about war in Lebanon in the early 1980s;
• Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorrah,” a study of the criminal underworld in Naples;
• Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo,” a lively portrait of former Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti and accusations against him of mafia ties;
• And Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Three Monkeys,” a subtle drama about a family’s hard choices coming home to roost.
The competition also featured “Lorna’s Silence,” a drama about an immigrant woman who enters a sham marriage to gain Belgian citizenship, from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two-time winners of the Palme d’Or, the top Cannes award.
Another past Cannes winner, Steven Soderbergh, was in the running with “Che,” his two-part, four-hour epic about Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, starring Benicio Del Toro. Soderbergh, who won the Palme d’Or for 1989’s “sex, lies and videotape,” received mixed reviews for “Che” from Cannes critics.
- From Yahoo
Wanted, Russian Trailer
May 24, 2008
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can’t agree on twins’ names
May 23, 2008
The couple - who are expecting twins in August – are said to be arguing over potential names because Brad doesn’t like Angelina’s suggestions.
Gemini Angelina reportedly wants to name the babies Castor and Pollox after the twins of her birth sign, but Brad has dismissed the suggestion as he doesn’t want a daughter with a name “like a British cuss word”.
Angelina confirmed she was expecting twins in an interview last week after her Kung Fu Panda co-star Jack Black let the news slip during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival.
- From Stuff