brad pitt (11 posts)

Fame Pictures Inc

Do celebrities all fly on private jets, or are those too expensive? If they fly commercial, do they get special treatment?
—Shanna, Reno

You mean when Brad Pitt flies commercial, does he get extra peanuts and free, tiny bottles of Wild Turkey? He's Brad Pitt. When he flies commercial—and he has—he gets much, much more than that.

Most A-listers prefer the hassle-free trips that only private jets can provide. But really, it varies, depending on the level of the star, the reason for the trip and the type of flight—either domestic, which tends to involve more private jets, or international, which gets more expensive and hogs more fuel, spurring many stars to opt for first-class commercial travel instead.

Some more deets—plus one glitzy tip you might be able to use—inside:

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James Devaney/WireImage.com

How come Angelina Jolie got a place in France? Doesn't she usually go to New Orleans or Third World countries?
—Alek, Brussels

The British Sun has reported that La Jolie would like to raise her new child in France to honor her late French-Canadian mother. What the Sun maybe forgot to report is that France is not in Canada. That fact has led your Answer B!tch toward a different theory, one that involves flattening the paparazzi.

Listen.

The last time Jolie gave birth, she flew to a country so restrictive that no paparazzo was allowed to leave Namibia without a jackboot firmly installed in his bunghole. Anyone who dared to snap the pregnant actress risked deportation or jail.

Now, it seems, Jolie is pregnant again. And it so happens that the privacy laws in France are almost as tight as Namibia's.

French law is kind of murky when it comes to celebrity photography, but in general, it goes like this: No snapping a star, even in public, and then selling it in France without the celeb's say-so. And photos of celebrity kids? Forget it. Their faces are tiled out completely in magazines, unless the parent says otherwise.

That isn't to say that France isn't rife with paparazzi. It has them. In fact, French paparazzi are respected in the industry as being some of the best in the business. But the laws there being what they are, many photographers there are cautious.

And paparazzi in France have been punished for breaking the privacy laws. In 2006, three snappers were convicted of breaching those very laws when they took pictures of Princess Diana and her boyfriend on the night they died. They got a symbolic fine of 1 euro, but still. They got nailed.

"I would have second thoughts on taking any pictures there until the law is defined," says Brad Elterman of BuzzFoto.com. "I would think twice."

He continues: "You will never have a situation in France like you have had with, say, Britney Spears. A few paparazzi? Maybe. But a train of 30 cars following someone? The French are never going to tolerate that. They would find it incredibly vulgar."

As vulgar as a Namibian jackboot up one's bunghole? Mais, bien sûr!

INFphoto.com

Do you think the paparazzi and even legit news coverage of Brangelina's second pregnancy will be as crazy as the first?
—Hannah, Tampa, Florida

You'd think people would have learned by now: All newborn babies look like a cross between giant moth larvae and Ming the Merciless. Every single newborn. But apparently America has yet to catch on.

So to answer your question, yes. The coverage will, almost certainly, be just as nuts. Of all the celebrity spawn debuting right around now and in the near future—J. Lo's twins, Xtina's son, Jessica Alba's unborn child, Cate Blanchett's proto-Oscar winner—the highest interest remains with Brangelina's newest bump.

Now, the frenzy surrounding Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt may seem hard to beat—the birth in Namibia, the first photos selling for a reported $4 million—but baby-gossip watchers seem sure of another windfall.

According to an Us Weekly editor who recently spoke with Matt Lauer on the Today show, the impending Shiloh II will probably fetch the highest price for a magazine cover photo, when compared with all the others currently gestating or recently sprung. And given that Xtina's new son fetched a reported $1.5 million from People, that's no small feat.

"Seeing the little brother or sister of Shiloh is something that millions and millions of Americans will still pay money for," Janice Min told Lauer earlier this month.

(And oh, obligatory caveat: La Jolie hasn't officially confirmed a second pregnancy yet. So in the interests of responsible reporting, Jolie may just be sporting an oddly placed goiter.)

As far as what the "fuss" is, you'll have to ask someone more maternal. Here's Min's take on it: "Women sit around, and when you find out someone had a baby, the first thing anyone asks is, What does the baby look like? Can I see a picture?"

I'd rather look at photos of, well, pretty much anything else, I suppose. But I guess that's just me. And you.