(GettyImages.com)

“Brangelina staging family photos,” reads the headline of a piece in the New York Post, which goes on to claim, “Those happy family photo ops in Venice are being staged ‘like a military operation’ to quash reports that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are splitting.”

For background, Pitt, Jolie, and their kids are in Venice, where she’s shooting “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp.

The Post article then quotes a so-called source saying, “They’re making a point of being seen in public as a happy family unit.”

A few things…

First, Gossip Cop checked into this, and we’re told the photos were NOT staged. “If you’ve ever been to Venice,” said our source, “you’d know because of the canals, it’s not like Los Angeles where you can just pull away in an unmarked car and not get photographed.

Our insider also noted they “have no need to pretend.”

Good point.

Gossip Cop would also like to add the following: When there are shots of Pitt alone – on his motorcycle, for example – stories spread that he wants time away from Jolie and the family. But when he’s pictured with Jolie and the kids, people then claim it’s just for show.

Not only are these portrayals unfair, but they are also inaccurate.

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(HollywoodLife.com)

“Aww! Brad & Angelina Took Their Brood Out For A Valentine’s Day Dinner!” gushes the headline of a HollywoodLife story that goes on to report, “Angelina Jolie took a trip down memory lane Feb. 14 as she and Brad Pitt took Maddox, 9, Pax, 6, and Zahara, 5, to Benihana for a special Valentine’s Day dinner.”

They really spent “Valentine’s Day” at Benihana’s in L.A.?!

Wrong.

While it’s true the couple and their kids – minus Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox – had a dinner at Benihana’s, it was TWO full days before Valentine’s Day, not “Feb. 14,” as inaccurately reported by HollywoodLife.

What’s scary, though, is HollywoodLife’s Perez-like style of cutting and pasting info, and then adding an incorrect twist to it.

HollywoodLife took its story from Life & Style, which noted Brangelina “took their three eldest children for a Valentine’s Day eve dinner at the Benihana restaurant.”

Not Valentine’s Day. Not “Feb. 14,” as stated by HollywoodLife, but rather Valentine’s “eve.”

Life & Style and HollywoodLife are a little like the blind leading the blind, because it wasn’t Valentine’s Day “eve” either. It was two days before Valentine’s Day, meaning a regular Friday night.

For the record, Pitt, Jolie, and their kids spent Valentine’s Day at home.

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(GettyImages.com)

When it comes to hammering a square peg through a round hole, no one does it with Star magazine’s tireless creativity.

(If only the tab excelled in accuracy.)

The “biggest show” at Super Bowl XLIV “was in the stands,” Star declares, “and it involved Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt!”

“Angelina was all over Brad,” the mag’s “eyewitness” reports.

OK. So far, so good. The couple was indeed affectionate, as photographs everywhere demonstrated.

But wait, Star warns. It wasn’t real affection. Instead, according to the tabloid, it’s all an act. Jolie “knew [the Super Bowl] was the perfect opportunity to downplay the rumors of her splitting from Brad,” an “insider” tells Star, adding that while Pitt “is miserable about what they’ve become as a couple, he’s going along with the charade — for now.”

But rather than employing actual facts, the mag trots out a body-language expert to “explain” what’s really going on in the couple’s lives. The expert observes that with public displays of affection the stars “are trying to show that they’re in sync [and] happy… but to me this feels contrived and exaggerated.”

Hmm. “Charade”… “contrived”… “exaggerated”… yup, all terms Star knows well.

After all, it’s the same magazine that recently illustrated a bogus Brangelina “Fight To End All Fights!” cover exclusive with outrageously misleading photographs of a downcast Pitt (at a film festival months earlier) and a sobbing Jolie (during a World Refugee Day event six years earlier).

Gossip Cop wants to point out just how ridiculous this has become.

When there’s no evidence of trouble with the couple, Star uses old photographs to deceive readers into thinking Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are warring.

When there IS evidence of happiness, Star tells readers not to believe their eyes, because it’s “All for Show!”

If anyone is playing games, it’s the tab.

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter for the best in accurate celebrity reporting!

(GettyImages.com)

After cheering on the New Orleans Saints at the Super Bowl in Miami, Angelina Jolie traveled to the Dominican Republic, where she spent time yesterday with hospitalized victims of the Haiti earthquake. 

Later today, Jolie, a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, will head to Haiti to meet with those who affected by the earthquake.

In addition to her work in the field, Jolie and Brad Pitt have already donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders to help with the relief effort in Haiti.

Gossip Cop will update when more details emerge about her charitable work with those on the devastated island nation.

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(GettyImages.com)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have initiated legal proceedings against News of the World, which wrongly claimed last month that the couple was set to split.

The paper’s bombshell story on January 24 purported to have details about Pitt and Jolie agreeing to divide their assets and make custody arrangements for the children, setting off an avalanche of new speculation that the high-profile Hollywood relationship was coming to an end. The report went so far as to say Pitt and Jolie had visited with a divorce attorney, had already signed an agreement, and that a breakup was imminent.

As Gossip Cop reported immediately after the News of the World-fueled breakup rumors exploded, sources told us the story was not true.

Today’s news corroborates our reporting.

A lawyer for the couple, Keith Schilling, called the “widely republished” allegations in News of the World “false and intrusive.” Pitt and Jolie have requested a retraction. The attorney’s statement also notes that Sorrell Trope, identified widely as the divorce lawyer advising the couple, has never even met them.

It’s looking more and more like media outlets acted recklessly when reprinting the News of the World’s Brangelina reporting last month. Gossip Cop hopes they’re just as quick to spread a retraction.

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter for updates…

(GettyImages.com)

Amid persistent (wrong) rumors that their relationship is in trouble and nearing an end, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended last night’s Super Bowl in Miami… together and very happily.

With son Maddox decked out in New Orleans Saints gear, Pitt and Jolie smiled, laughed, hugged, greeted fans, and cheered as the team won its first NFL championship, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

Pitt and Jolie own a home in New Orleans.

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(OK! magazine)

Refusing to leave well enough alone, OK! Magazine continues the recent barrage of “bullsplit” Brangelina buzz in a big way, declaring in a cover story that Brad Pitt still loves ex-wife Jennifer Aniston and is only staying with Angelina Jolie for the kids.

Ugh.

As Gossip Cop reported, Pitt and Jolie were together, laughing and happy at the Directors Guild of America Awards. To OK!, though, the couple’s good cheer and displays of affection were just an act. They “appeared to be the very picture of romantic bliss,” the weekly claims, but it was all “a well-orchestrated illusion.”

How does OK! know?

Brangelina biographer Ian Halperin, who for months has sold books on the faulty premise that Pitt and Jolie are splitting, insists the two are “leading 100 percent separate lives.”

What’s more, according to a so-called “source” for the mag, Pitt thinks leaving Aniston was a “terrible mistake” and has told his friends, “I’m still in love with Jen.” OK! then trots out as an example of his continued infatuation the “warm conversation” Pitt and Aniston shared at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon… a conversation that never took place, as Gossip Cop reported.

But this fictional “reunion” “only doused more kerosene on Brad’s already burning torch,” reports the mag. He would “do anything to have his old life back,” but won’t “turn his back” on the children he has with Jolie, says their “source.” Aniston, meanwhile, might not take Pitt back, because even if she “hasn’t quite moved on” (and the mag suggests that she has, to Gerard Butler), she’s “no longer playing the role of wounded victim” and happy not to have the drama Pitt has in his life.

Uh huh.

Let’s review.

OK! says Pitt is desperate to leave Jolie, but won’t because of the kids, and that Aniston probably won’t take him back, anyway. All of which is a very convenient “out” for the magazine should Pitt not, you know, leave his relationship for his ex-wife.

The evidence offered for Pitt and Aniston “spending more time” together? A conversation that never happened, and that would have been extraordinarily public even if it had.

And the explanation for what everyone in the world did see, Pitt and Jolie being perfectly happy together at an awards show? Well OK! says that was all an act.

Gossip Cop wonders how long the tabloids can tie themselves into knots trying to prove the “bullsplit” Brangelina stories before they pull a muscle.

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(GettyImages.com)

A week ago, the tabs were abuzz (again) with talk that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were breaking up. And if you recall, Gossip Cop was ahead of the curve, calling those rumors “bullsplit.”

For those still questioning whether they are or aren’t together, here are some notes from friends of ours who saw the couple last night at the Director’s Guild of America Awards, held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

According to one Gossip Cop pal, “They were smiling, happy and seemed to be enjoying a night out together.” That same source says, “They shared a few private jokes… Angelina laughed a number of times after Brad whispered stuff in her ear.”

Another onlooker tells Gossip Cop that Pitt, who was at the awards to introduce his “Inglourious Basterds” director, Quentin Tarantino, “kept his hand – a few times- on the small of [Angelina's] back. It was sweet.”

Hopefully, the media will remain sweet to them as well for the time being.

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter for breaking news and updates, and check out GossipCop.com for the most ACCURATE celebrity reporting.

(GettyImages.com

Gossip Cop has to give the National Enquirer some credit. While the supermarket tab is not always the most reliable source of celebrity reporting, it may be among the most imaginative.

In a piece titled, “Jen & Gerard Moving In Together,” the Enquirer reports, “Jennifer Aniston’s rekindled love affair with ‘300’ hunk Gerard Butler has shifted into overdrive – she’s asked him to move in with her!”

Yes, you read that correctly.

According to the gossip rag, “During a recent whirlwind, champagne-fueled weekend of flirting and public kisses, Jennifer propositioned Gerard with an offer too good to refuse.”

“Gerard could barely contain his excitement when Jen suggested that he move into her Beverly Hills mansion… Before the words, ‘move in with me,’ were out of Jen’s mouth, Gerard shouted, ‘Yes!’”

NO.

That NEVER happened, and they are NOT moving in together.

While the rest of the world inaccurately jumped on the Aniston reuniting with Brad Pitt bandwagon, the Enquirer chose to go in another (equally wrong) direction with Butler.

Gossip Cop’s checking in with sources about the Aniston-Butler rumor was met with responses of “Huh? “No!” and even one “What’s wrong with you?”

Additionally, a rep for Aniston told Gossip Cop, “Nonsense. They are buddies – not dating.”

Be sure to follow @GossipCop on Twitter for updates, and visit GossipCop.com for the MOST accurate and FACT-CHECKED celebrity reporting!

(Star Magazine)

Over the weekend, the Internet nearly melted down with rumors of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt splitting. A story in News of the World kicked off talk of an imminent break (which Gossip Cop debunked), but bad Brangelina buzz has now spilled over into the weekly tabloids. Us Weekly, In Touch, and OK! all tell tales of turmoil for the couple.

Star magazine leads the charge with a cover shocker alleging Pitt ex Jennifer Aniston has told him, “I’ll Take You Back!”

The mag claims Jolie and Pitt are in the process of signing a $350 million breakup contract. According to its version of events, “Brad finally realized there was no future for them when she suggested they each take other lovers.”

Wait, when did she do that? Star says she did so when she revealed to German magazine Das Neue her “doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship,” sparking “open relationship” nonsense Gossip Cop cut down more than a month ago.

But the centerpiece of the Star masterpiece is the claim Pitt reached out to Aniston for comfort, and that a week of calls and texts culminated “in their emotional face-to-face meeting” at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon on January 22. “They seemed so happy to be sharing each other’s company,” a “source” tells the tab. “They were both smiling and staring at each other lovingly.”

No.

No they were not.

As Gossip Cop confirmed and numerous other outlets supported, Pitt and Aniston were both at George Clooney’s Haiti event, helping to raise money for the earthquake-ravaged island.

But despite Star’s story and OK!’s insistence that the telethon was the site of an “emotional reunion,” Pitt and Aniston never met face to face.

And, as Gossip Cop reported, Pitt and Jolie have not split up.

Does a couple with six children, two high-profile careers, and overwhelming media scrutiny (to put it mildly) face tension? Yes. But sources tell Gossip Cop that whatever problems the couple has, Jolie and Pitt are working through them.

Will they endure? Time will tell. Poor sourcing and invented details will not.

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter for updates…