Before Crazy Rich Asians opened, director Jon M Chu talked about what the success of the movie could do for other stories. He mentioned that he knew of several other projects in development that were waiting for the greenlight and that people were waiting to see how CRA performed before moving ahead…

this photo is from 8-15
We recently heard that Ben Affleck was unsure about whether he would stick it out in rehab after his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner, staged an intervention to get him help. That story originated in paparazzi agency X17, which has photographers on the ground who could talk to Garner off the record. Now E! has a story claiming that Affleck will probably stay and that he’s doing ‘OK.’ We also recently heard that Affleck and Garner are close to signing off on their divorce and have worked out the major details. Multiple outlets confirmed that, along with the fact that they’re going to finalize everything once Affleck completes treatment. Here are the quotes from E! about his stay:

“Ben is still in rehab and has not left. He’s doing OK,” a source tells E! News. “He seems serious about living in for at least 30 days.”

Over the weekend, E! News learned that Affleck and Garner, who share three kids together, have reached a divorce settlement but will wait until he completes his current rehab stint to file it in court.

“The divorce is wrapped up but has not been signed off on. They are waiting for Ben to get out to do that,” the insider says. “They both want to move on and end the financial negotiations and the custody discussions.”

[From E!]

That’s good news. One thing that I remember about getting sober is that there’s a period of depression that can set in a few weeks afterwards. Everyone talks about the “pink cloud” and that’s real but you can also be down in the dumps. A lot of people I know who are sober went through this and it’s not the same as withdrawal, which is likely what Ben is going through now, not this later stage. I think it’s your brain trying to adjust without alcohol. It’s tough getting and staying sober. I was just thinking about this after reading this People story with quotes from an addiction expert. He talks about the complicated nature of addiction and how it’s not a character flaw or a matter of not caring about your loved ones. (Plug for Smart Recovery and the free cognitive behavioral tools there. If you are struggling to quit drinking, print out and fill out some of their worksheets. AA is also free and available everywhere.)

Meanwhile The Wrap has analysis from an insurance expert who speculates that Ben has cost himself the Batman role due to the expensive cost of insuring him post-rehab. Their expert states “More than likely the studio will replace him because the insurance costs are going to go through the roof… He would be bondable, but the deductible would be really high, probably the budget of the film.” Wow that’s incredible. I didn’t realize how pricey insurance could be in that industry, but I guess that makes sense considering how much money is at stake. However I thought that Ben wasn’t moving forward with that role regardless. He’s been very ambivalent about it in interviews and recent articles have suggested the standalone Batman movie was not happening.

Get well soon Ben. Stick it out, you can do it.

Someone needs to make a painting of this photo.

photos credit: Backgrid and WENN

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It’s still sort of amazing to me that I’m sitting here, writing about sports. And what’s even more amazing is that I’ve been following this damn story for a while! For years now, there’s been a lot of gossip about Tom Brady’s “trainer” Alex Guerrero. Tom is in business with Guerrero – they’re doing all of the TB12 Method crap together, including the promotion of the idea that if you drink enough water, you won’t get sunburned. I sh-t you not. Guerrero is also responsible for Tom’s “mind over matter” mentality when it comes to injuries and concussions – Guerrero has seemingly drilled it into Tom’s (concussed) head that if Tom merely stretches enough and achieves peak “pliability” that he’ll avoid injury altogether.

Guerrero, if you haven’t figured out by now, is a Goop-level snake oil salesman. The Patriots invited him in, because Brady is such a BFD. Guerrero had an in-house job with the Pats, and other players would work with him too. Until last year, when Guerrero was kicked out of Patriots Org. Reportedly, the whole thing was tearing the team apart from the inside. Reportedly, Tom was doing the most to get his guru back on the payroll. And it looks like he succeeded?

Tom Brady abruptly hung up on WEEI radio host Kirk Minihane on Monday after the interviewer repeatedly asked questions about the quarterback’s controversial trainer. During Brady’s weekly call with 93.7 FM in Boston, Minihane asked about trainer Alex Guerrero, who was reportedly banned from traveling with the New England Patriots and from standing on the sidelines during games last season.

According to the USA Today, following Brady, other star Patriots players have taken up the services of Guerrero over the years, which gave him a regular presence despite not being a team employee. Differences between Guerrero’s practices and those of the Patriots’ staff have led to friction between the team and trainer.

“We saw the reports this weekend that Alex was on the team plane, which he wasn’t for the second half of last year, I guess, and not on the sideline,” Minihane asked Brady on Monday, according to a transcript published by the radio station. “Is that accurate?” Brady confirmed Guerrero traveled with the team, prompting Minihane to ask about what lead to the ban being lifted. But the five-time Super Bowl champion quickly shut down any further talk about the subject.

“You know, I don’t want to; I’m not getting into all that,” Brady, 41, replied.

Minihane pressed on and asked about Guerrero’s relationship with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

“I said I don’t want to get into it,” Brady shot back. “Everyone knows, it’s well documented the work he and I do together.”

Undeterred, Minihane asked Brady if Guerrero was on the sideline during the team’s preseason loss against the Carolina Panthers on Friday.

“Yeah, all right guys, have a great day,” Brady said before hanging up the phone. “I’ll talk to you later.”

[From People]

Tom Brady is a rude bitch, but also: I think it’s funny that he’s contractually obligated to subject himself to these weekly grillings on a local radio station. And good for Minihane for pressing Tom for answers. The whole thing is shady as hell and Tom is… well, he’s a short-sighted moron. Bill Belichick did the right thing by banning Guerrero from the organization, and my guess is that Tom whined and went over Belichick’s head to get Guerrero reinstated. Ugh.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Brad Pitt’s calculated smear job on his estranged wife made me sick to my stomach. The only silver lining there is that Brad is being so obvious about it now that even his long-time fans are like “whoa, really?” While I hope that Angelina Jolie is quietly preparing to ruin him, she has been presenting a different kind of image in recent weeks, since she returned to LA after working on Maleficent 2. She’s been stepping out every so often with the kids, all of whom look happy and well-adjusted and undramatic. Last week, Angelina had a girls-day-out with Shiloh and Zahara. They went to Kitson for what seemed like some back-to-school shopping. Someone at Kitson spilled the details about how Angelina interacted with Shi and Zahara.

Retail therapy! Angelina Jolie brought her oldest daughters, Zahara and Shiloh, shopping in Los Angeles as her divorce from estranged husband, Brad Pitt, continues to make headlines.

“She came in and she was very nice,” Kitson Kitross owner Fraser Ross told Us Weekly of the 43-year-old Oscar winner’s recent visit with Zahara, 13, and Shiloh, 12. “The girls were nice, polite and cute. Angelina shook my hand when she entered the store. It was genuinely a girls’ day out and they were into reading everything and looking at everything. Angelina seemed relaxed and she’s definitely a very hands-on person. Anything the girls said, she’d come and look. If they had something to show her, she’d go over there. They definitely explored every part of that store. She didn’t leave there before she looked at everything.”

Ross added that the family stayed at the store for “about an hour and a half” and brought “heart-shaped” earrings for Zahara and both girls were gifted L.A. Trading Company tees with different sayings. It’s not a surprise that Jolie chose to bring her girls to Kitson. According to a source, the actress’ mother, Marcheline, “used to live at the L’Ermitage right around the corner” and “used to shop at the store too.”

[From Us Weekly]

They shopped for an hour and a half and the only thing they bought was a pair of earrings for Zahara? That seems weird to me, but then again, by the time I’m physically in a store and trying on clothes and all of that, I get burned out on it pretty quickly too. After a full hour of it, I rarely even care about buying the sweater/pants/whatever that I’ve chosen. Online shopping has really changed everything, hasn’t it? As for Shiloh and Zahara being polite… people always say that about the kids, that they’re not wild or crazy or anything like that.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Brad Pitt’s smear job in Page Six, Angelina stepped out with Pax for lunch in LA on Sunday:

Angelina Jolie flashes cleavage in strapless dress as she enjoys outing with son Pax, 14, in LA https://t.co/fr79KW6Gn2

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) August 27, 2018

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Back when the first version of Roseanne was on the air, Roseanne Barr (then Roseanne Arnold) got a lot of crap from the men in charge of television at the time. She was labeled as “difficult” and “crazy” and “power-hungry” and all of those coded words they use for women. Of course it probably didn’t help that Roseanne actually is far from sane, and that she used her power to give her husband a job when no one wanted him. Back in those days, very few people had Roseanne’s back. John Goodman was one of the few who never said one bad word against her. They’ve always been very close, and even when the 1.0 version of the show went off the air, they still hung out and stayed in each other’s lives.

True to form, when Roseanne was fired for tweeting racist crap, Goodman didn’t say a bad word about her. Do you hate that or respect that? I kind of respect it, sheerly as an act of friendship and professional camaraderie. Now, in a new interview, Goodman spoke with more depth about what happened and… how Roseanne isn’t really racist? Oh no.

He was broken-hearted about ABC pulling the plug on ‘Roseanne’: “I was brokenhearted…but I thought, ‘OK, it’s just show business, I’m going to let it go.’ But I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. I’m a depressive anyway, so any excuse that I can get to lower myself, I will. But that had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit.”

He says Roseanne isn’t racist: “I was surprised. I’ll put it this way, I was surprised at the response, and that’s probably all I should say about it. I know, I know, for a fact that she’s not a racist.”

Roseanne had to relinquish her rights to the spinoff show: “She had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on. I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell.”

What happens to Dan on the spinoff: “I guess he’ll be mopey and sad because his wife’s dead.”

[From Page Six]

I have no idea if Goodman agreed with all of Roseanne’s racist tweets, but I want to believe that he does not agree with them. I think he’s too close to the situation, and he’s so used to standing up for Roseanne Barr that he never stopped to think “but what if she deserved to be fired for all of that crap?” I also don’t think “being justifiably called a racist when you tweet racist sh-t” is really “going through hell.” Facing up to consequences of your own toxic behavior should never be described as “going through hell.” But still, I don’t absolutely hate the fact that Goodman still won’t breathe a word against his friend.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Demi Lovato is thankfully still in rehab and will be for some time after a near fatal overdose late last month. One of her friends administered the rescue drug Narcan and she survived and was rushed to hospital. It’s been unclear up until now what Demi took, although her people insist it wasn’t heroin. We know now what she took because the guy who supplied her drugs, Brandon Johnson, told the paparazzi during an impromptu street interview. Apparently Johnson got the pills from Mexico and they weren’t typical pharmaceutical opioids, they were likely laced with fentanyl, although he’s unsure about that. Johnson warned Demi that they were “aftermarket” and not pharmaceutical pills, but she took them anyway. Here’s what he told TMZ, and he even dished about having a sexual relationship with her. You can see the video there. He’s wasted and he’s a dirtbag.

When you first started hanging out with Demi was it as friends?
It was a flirty friendship but nothing more. It kind of grew into more of a sexual friendship. You know, we were just hanging out. Later on in the relationship we messed around. For the most part we were just friends.

When she texted you at 4 in the morning was it for you guys to hook up, hang out?
She texted me at 4 o’clock in the morning because she’s a girl and she wanted to kick it.

What happened that night?
We hung out, we watched our detective shows. She sometimes has such long days, stressful hours. Unwind a little bit.

Did she know what she was taking that night?
100% she knew what she was taking. I disclosed to her that these are not pharmaceutical, they’re aftermarket pills. They’re much stronger. She understood fully. It was unfortunate what happened, but for people to think that there was any misconception on my behalf is absolutely ridiculous. I’m not here to hurt anybody.

Was there fentanyl mixed with that?
I’m not sure what was mixed with that to tell you the truth… When I was with her she was fine, the whole time.

When I showed up she was a little drunk. Nothing out of the ordinary.

When you left was she asleep?
It happens all the time. We hang out, we do whatever she needs to do and she ends up passing out. It was already 7, 8 o’clock at that time. So she passed out and I leave as I normally do.

Was it a wakeup call?
It definitely opened my eyes to the dangers of these drugs. They’re fun but in the wrong hands they can be harmful. I hate to hurt anybody. I’m not trying to hurt my friend.

[From TMZ]

First of all, didn’t this guy just incriminate himself? He basically admitted to giving the drugs to Demi which resulted in her overdose. It’s doubtful he’ll have any repercussions though. Also, doesn’t it go against drug dealer code to reveal your clients, especially when you’re dealing to the rich and famous? He’s an idiot but I guess that line of work doesn’t attract the best and brightest. Maybe he’s just a garden variety hanger-on who happens to have drugs. That would explain why he spilled so easily. Also, Brandon didn’t give Demi the Narcan according to what he told TMZ. Someone else close to her did that and saved her life. No wonder her people want to keep her away from influences like this. Scum. Bag.

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Photos are screenshots from TMZ and also credit: Getty

Stormy Daniels was profiled by Vogue. We’re through the looking glass and I don’t hate it. Vogue stands for everything elite and consumer-driven for American women. And Stormy is surprisingly on-brand – it’s not like Vogue decided to profile her because she is a “famous mistress of the president.” They’re profiling her because A) women love her and B) Stormy is at the heart of what will bring down Donald Trump. She’s an American hero and a patriot. This Vogue article is good because Michael Avenatti, Stormy’s lawyer, is quoted at length too, and because they have a very cute vibe between them. I would totally watch a reality show featuring them interacting and bringing down Donald Trump. You can read the full Vogue piece here – Stormy isn’t breaking any news, because there are so many moving parts to her case and everything is moving so quickly. But she’s funny and interesting. Some highlights:

Details about sex with Trump: “How many details can you really give about two minutes?” she says. Two minutes? I ask. “Maybe. I’m being generous.”

She can barely eat & she’s had to hire bodyguards: “We’ve been at restaurants when we order food and it’s taken too long or somebody was watching and we’ve had to leave—like that.” Daniels snaps her French-manicured fingers. She throws a look at Avenatti. “That’s why I’m so skinny! We’ve been in a couple car chases. We’ve had people put notes under the door, which means they know what hotel I’m in, which means we’ve had to change hotels in the middle of the night.”

Working in the sex industry: “It takes a strong person to work in the adult business. You’re a scientist. You get to study people . . . but there’s also the feeling of ‘Oh, I’m not going into the VIP room with that guy.’ ”

Her fan base now: “My fan base is completely different,” Daniels tells me later. The middle-aged white men who used to populate her shows and buy her movies—“now those guys are just gone.” In their place has sprung the so-called Resistance: women, gay couples, immigrants, and other assorted liberals who despise Trump. “It’s pretty much these packs of women, and they are angry,” Daniels says. There’s an upside to this—“Women tip the best!” Daniels says—but she’s still struggling to get her head around this nightly outpouring of warmth. “People come up and they’re so emotional and they put so much on me. They’re like, ‘You’re going to save the world, you’re a patriot, you’re a hero.’ It’s funny. It’s actually easier for me to handle the negative stuff. It’s not like I turned on Twitter today and was called a whore for the first time.”

She never had a political agenda: “I’m not like some big Hillary supporter. I’m a Republican.” There is the gun that she owns, the state she lives in—but she is quick to say she is socially liberal (“I’m pro choice, pro-gay”) and that she was disgusted watching the 2016 campaign, when Trump insulted Mexican immigrants, Muslims, women, and so many others. “I just thought most of it was this character. And then I slowly started realizing, Wait a minute. . . .”

Saving her own ass: “When I started this, I just wanted to save my own ass, not everybody else’s.”

Her story is not a #MeToo story: “No, nothing. Not once did I ever feel like I was in any sort of physical danger. I’m sure if I would’ve taken off running, he wouldn’t have given chase. And even if I had, there’s no way he could’ve caught me… He’s even less likely to catch me now.”

[From Vogue]

Stormy is a smart cookie, I’ve known that for a while. I guess I owe her an apology too – when she first entered the public discourse, I thought she was a sideshow. I honestly couldn’t believe that her story – about having sex with Trump more than a decade ago – would be the catalyst for all that’s happened with Michael Cohen and more. She really is an American hero, and it’s amazing to think that she really was just trying to save her reputation. A storm’s a’coming.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

Stormy Daniels was profiled by Vogue. We’re through the looking glass and I don’t hate it. Vogue stands for everything elite and consumer-driven for American women. And Stormy is surprisingly on-brand – it’s not like Vogue decided to profile her because she is a “famous mistress of the president.” They’re profiling her because A) women love her and B) Stormy is at the heart of what will bring down Donald Trump. She’s an American hero and a patriot. This Vogue article is good because Michael Avenatti, Stormy’s lawyer, is quoted at length too, and because they have a very cute vibe between them. I would totally watch a reality show featuring them interacting and bringing down Donald Trump. You can read the full Vogue piece here – Stormy isn’t breaking any news, because there are so many moving parts to her case and everything is moving so quickly. But she’s funny and interesting. Some highlights:

Details about sex with Trump: “How many details can you really give about two minutes?” she says. Two minutes? I ask. “Maybe. I’m being generous.”

She can barely eat & she’s had to hire bodyguards: “We’ve been at restaurants when we order food and it’s taken too long or somebody was watching and we’ve had to leave—like that.” Daniels snaps her French-manicured fingers. She throws a look at Avenatti. “That’s why I’m so skinny! We’ve been in a couple car chases. We’ve had people put notes under the door, which means they know what hotel I’m in, which means we’ve had to change hotels in the middle of the night.”

Working in the sex industry: “It takes a strong person to work in the adult business. You’re a scientist. You get to study people . . . but there’s also the feeling of ‘Oh, I’m not going into the VIP room with that guy.’ ”

Her fan base now: “My fan base is completely different,” Daniels tells me later. The middle-aged white men who used to populate her shows and buy her movies—“now those guys are just gone.” In their place has sprung the so-called Resistance: women, gay couples, immigrants, and other assorted liberals who despise Trump. “It’s pretty much these packs of women, and they are angry,” Daniels says. There’s an upside to this—“Women tip the best!” Daniels says—but she’s still struggling to get her head around this nightly outpouring of warmth. “People come up and they’re so emotional and they put so much on me. They’re like, ‘You’re going to save the world, you’re a patriot, you’re a hero.’ It’s funny. It’s actually easier for me to handle the negative stuff. It’s not like I turned on Twitter today and was called a whore for the first time.”

She never had a political agenda: “I’m not like some big Hillary supporter. I’m a Republican.” There is the gun that she owns, the state she lives in—but she is quick to say she is socially liberal (“I’m pro choice, pro-gay”) and that she was disgusted watching the 2016 campaign, when Trump insulted Mexican immigrants, Muslims, women, and so many others. “I just thought most of it was this character. And then I slowly started realizing, Wait a minute. . . .”

Saving her own ass: “When I started this, I just wanted to save my own ass, not everybody else’s.”

Her story is not a #MeToo story: “No, nothing. Not once did I ever feel like I was in any sort of physical danger. I’m sure if I would’ve taken off running, he wouldn’t have given chase. And even if I had, there’s no way he could’ve caught me… He’s even less likely to catch me now.”

[From Vogue]

Stormy is a smart cookie, I’ve known that for a while. I guess I owe her an apology too – when she first entered the public discourse, I thought she was a sideshow. I honestly couldn’t believe that her story – about having sex with Trump more than a decade ago – would be the catalyst for all that’s happened with Michael Cohen and more. She really is an American hero, and it’s amazing to think that she really was just trying to save her reputation. A storm’s a’coming.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

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I can barely keep up with all of the attempted “comebacks” of all of the sexual predators who were outed last fall and winter. I feel like some of these douchebags coordinate, because on the very same morning that we’re dealing with this fakakta Matt Lauer story – he told some old ladies that he’ll “be back on TV soon” – we’re also dealing with this fakakta Louis CK story. Is there strength in numbers or something? Do high-profile predators have some kind of undercover forum where they trade tips on PR? Will we get through the day without Charlie Rose announcing some kind of Hulu deal? Anyway, back to Louis CK – he went to a comedy club. He performed a set:

Louis C.K. made his first public appearance onstage at a comedy club Monday night since admitting to sexual misconduct last November, the New York Times reported. C.K. made a surprise appearance at the Comedy Cellar in New York City, one of his regular haunts before he disappeared from the public eye after admitting to inappropriate conduct such as masturbating in front of women.

According to the report, the disgraced comedian made an appearance at around 11 p.m. and performed a 15-minute set. He did not address the current scandal that surrounds him during his performance. He was greeted with an ovation by the crowd.

Following claims made by five women that C.K. had performed inappropriate sexual conduct in their presence, and the comedian’s own admission of the alleged misconduct, C.K. lost his production deal with FX (home of his comedy series Louie) and the canceled release of the film he directed, wrote and starred in, I Love You, Daddy, last year.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Pro-tip: don’t refer to it as “alleged” or “allegations.” HE ADMITTED IT. I realize no one wants to get sued, but why are people walking on eggshells about calling him a predator flat-out? He admitted it. Even if he didn’t admit it, multiple women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct. His film was shelved, he was thrown off a half-dozen projects and TV deals, all because of those victims and because he admitted it. He never denied it. The thing that bugged me was that he never addressed the fact that he publicly gaslighted his victims and actively sought to hurt their careers when his victims tried to speak out about him. But here he is… attempting a comeback. I’m sure some crisis manager thought it was a good idea. And hey, I’m sure a ton of his comedy bros are happy to see him back.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

As we discussed yesterday, Angelina Jolie “broke up” with her divorce lawyer Laura Wasser. Wasser was her divorce lawyer from the beginning of this mess in 2016. Wasser has also been sitting by as Brad Pitt and his team smeared the crap out of her client for two years, a smear campaign which seems to be heating up rather than simmering down. I felt like I understood why Jolie switched attorneys – my thought was that she simply wanted a lawyer who had more experience with long, drawn-out custody battles and Wasser wasn’t getting the job done. Lainey also had an interesting take, which amounts to “Angelina was having trust issues with Wasser,” especially given Wasser’s historically close relationship with TMZ, the same outlet which has been trashing Jolie for two years. So maybe this is an interesting “take” on the situation:

Angelina Jolie was forced to go out of town for a divorce attorney because none of the top custody lawyers in Los Angeles wanted to work with her. Sources close to the case tell The Blast that when it became clear Jolie would part ways with her attorney, Laura Wasser, her team began looking for a new high-end firm that handles celebrity divorce cases. We’re told none of them wanted it.

Part of the reason goes back to why Angelina Jolie and Wasser went their separate ways in the first place. Our sources say Jolie is intent on fighting Brad Pitt publicly over custody and support and Wasser is known for guiding her celebrity clients to sharing custody and working out the issues privately. Wasser even launched her own divorce website, itsovereasy.com so people can make it easy to get divorced quickly and quietly.

Another problem, we’re told, is that lawyers view the case as a big, fat LOSER. Brad Pitt is very likely to get 50/50 custody of the children even though Angelina is trying to fight it … and no lawyer likes to lose so publicly in court.

Jolie’s new S.F. attorney, Samantha Dejean, has not officially taken over the case — the change of attorney paperwork has not been filed yet. We’re told the docs will be filed this week, swapping Dejean in for Wasser, and adding Joe Mannis, an L.A. attorney who will be brought on only to handle the financial aspects of the divorce. As The Blast first reported, Jolie is considering filing a palimony lawsuit against Pitt in order to go after the money he earned during their entire relationship.

[From The Blast]

The Blast is another outlet, along with TMZ and Page Six, that has been getting near-constant leaks from Team Pitt. This article is blatantly Team Pitt’s assertion, that they’re WINNERS and Angelina is such a big LOSER and she’s the least popular girl in high school and she’s grody and weird and goth and no one likes her. How juvenile. As if LA lawyers are ALL such high-minded, un-greedy legal scholars and absolutely NONE of them would be interested in… representing an A-list movie star in a divorce which will likely bring in seven figures worth of billing. No, I think Lainey was right about one thing: Angelina is having trust issues. She went outside of LA for a lawyer because she doesn’t want a lawyer with TMZ on speed-dial. And I’m still really bothered by the fact that Brad and his team are making such a BFD about the fact that Angelina simply got new representation.

Photos courtesy of WENN and Backgrid.