Brad Thinks Publicity's the Pitts

Dear old Brad Pitt. In an interview with Newsweek in the US this week, prior to the three-ring Oscar hoopla, the star says he’s sick and tired of the media focus on his relationship with Angelina Jolie. The actor hammers his point home throughout the interview, clearly believing the odd notion that his private life is totally separate from his career. “The publicity machine is out of control,” he tells the magazine. “It’s everything we didn’t sign up for.”

Are you listening to your PR minders, Brad, or are they telling you want you want to hear? Here’s a question for you to answer. If you wanted to send out a signal that you were a very different celeb, why did you sell the first photographs of your twins? If you facilitate a $14 million contract (which is what the photos of the twins, then less than a month old, reportedly fetched) with devils like People magazine and Hello! magazine, what do you expect?

Come on, Brad; you were paid a king’s ransom for the photo rights – this indicates that you are playing the game. OK, some of the fee was purportedly donated to African charities but the process of monetizing baby pictures is going to causes problems. If newborn infants are thrust into the spotlight to make money, you can’t expect the media to leave you alone to play happy families.

Old Hollywood legends were much better with sound bites and showbiz wisdom. Undoubtedly crafted by a publicist, David Niven’s words should echo through to Brad: “Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.” More pertinently, Clark Gable once remarked to Niven that, when it came to the contract between a star and his public, the public had read the small print and the star hadn’t.

Brad should remember that being famous has its costs. Disconnection with the audience is a real threat and remarks such as the ones made in the Newsweek interview are sure to wind the media up. Newsweek are a conduit for all the love that has been directed towards Brad Pitt over the years, but all takes is one insignificant violation of the contract that Clark Gable mentioned and the adoring crowds can turn, all too quickly, into a baying mob.