With Angelina Jolie's pregnancy announcement and Jennifer Aniston's unilateral divorce statement, the biggest gossip scandal of the year in Hollywood, and even the entire United States, was born. Paparazzi in Los Angeles swarmed, and the number of paparazzi and reporters outside the residences of everyone from Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie to Jennifer Aniston had to be counted in dozens.
Even "Shrek 2," which had just been released and set a series of animation records, was overshadowed by this sensational gossip.
Matthew was also very surprised when he saw it. After all, he had told Helen Herman that he had heard someone mention Brad Pitt's affair with his nanny, and asked her if Brad Pitt used a young female nanny. Finally, he confirmed this information from Lister of Red Penguin.
His plan with Helen Herman was also very simple: to make Jennifer Aniston pay attention to Brad Pitt's private life as much as possible. If this golden couple encountered an emotional crisis, Brad Pitt would inevitably be distracted, affecting his audition for the male lead in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
If not, then so be it. Matthew still had a certain advantage in action genres and commercial box office appeal in the past three years.
This was an extra layer of insurance for the audition.
Moreover, he and Helen Herman also knew that if Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's relationship had already broken down and they were just routinely showing affection, these small actions to stir up trouble would be useless.
But that afternoon, after careful consideration, Helen Herman still believed that the feasibility was extremely high. After all, it only required spending some money and not doing too much, and if it had an effect, not to mention anything else, just in terms of money, it could bring Matthew a return of no less than 8 million US dollars.
Matthew and Helen Herman had many common understandings in this regard. Once they decided to compete, they would use all their strength.
However, what Matthew didn't expect was that Elena Boyar's people actually photographed Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Jennifer Aniston in a three-way confrontation... After seeing the video on the TMZ website, he carefully recalled the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie gossip that had left a deeper impression on him. He only remembered that their relationship was exposed during the filming of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." He didn't know when exactly they started getting together.
It now seems that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had already gotten together before "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" started filming. It is estimated that the crew thought this gossip would help promote the film, and pushed it hard behind the scenes, eventually evolving into what it later became.
Unfortunately,
Such sensational gossip exploded now and quickly heated up. According to the rule that gossip cools down relatively quickly after it heats up, even if the crew wanted to use Brad Pitt, his scandal with Angelina Jolie would not have much value for a film that could only be released around this time next year.
Moreover, this is a scandal after all. The crew has not yet decided to use Brad Pitt, unlike when it was filmed before when there was no turning back. It is estimated that Akiva Goldsman would also be hesitant, right?
Even in a place like Hollywood, destroying other people's families and marriages is a very disgraceful thing.
These are all Matthew's understandings, and the actual situation may be different.
In fact, Matthew still admired Angelina Jolie very much. She directly used the "Alexander" crew to release a big move. As soon as the news of her pregnancy was announced, even if Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston originally had plans to reconcile, they could only divorce now.
Matthew could only say that she truly lived up to her reputation as Angelina Jolie, definitely a fighter among celebrities.
However, in some ways, Angelina Jolie also helped him again. Jolie's pregnancy and Aniston's unilateral divorce announcement appeared almost simultaneously, which would definitely make Brad Pitt overwhelmed and inevitably distracted in the short term.
By the way, should I call Angelina Jolie? Matthew just had this thought and immediately gave up. After "Girl, Interrupted," the two had not been in contact again. For example, when they met at events like the Oscar night party, they both tacitly pretended not to know each other.
He'd better silently accept this divine assist from Angelina Jolie.
Speaking of which, it seems Angelina Jolie really did fall for Brad Pitt, otherwise, she wouldn't have released such a huge move as collapsing due to pregnancy.
"I have to thank you very much this time."
In a famous French restaurant in Los Angeles, Elena Boyar looked at Matthew across the table and said, "My position and salary at TMZ have both been raised a level. So, feel free to order whatever you want to eat."
Matthew didn't know much about French cuisine, so he handed the menu to Elena Boyar, "You order." After Iliana Boyar took the menu, he asked, "Are you the editor-in-chief now?"
Iliana Boyar ordered the dishes and said to Matthew, "No, my position and salary have been raised one level, but I'm still in charge of the original section."
She deliberately said, "I can't compare with someone like you who earns tens of millions of dollars a year."
Matthew was not modest and said, "You are also a high-income earner."
Iliana Boyar shrugged slightly, "is an annual salary of 250,000 US dollars considered high income? As long as I see you, I will despair."
"Then there's nothing I can do," Matthew deliberately said, "You will always be mired in the quagmire of despair."
"How did you get the news?" Elena Boyar suddenly changed the subject and asked.
"I didn't know Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were involved, I just heard that Brad Pitt likes to mess around with nannies," Matthew said, mixing truth with falsehood, pointing to his ear and saying, "I have exceptionally good hearing, and I always hear some people's whispers."
"Hmph..." How could Elena Boyar believe such a statement? "Do you think I would believe such a thing?"
Matthew spread his hands, "Really! I've never been so honest."
"Brad Pitt is preparing for crisis public relations," Elena Boyar continued, "He probably won't have much energy for the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' audition."
She knew very well that why Matthew provided the information, and both sides got what they needed. There was no question of owing favors, and mutual benefit was also the basis of cooperation.
Matthew thought for a moment and asked, "is Brad Pitt going to divorce Jennifer Aniston?"
Elena Boyar gave a definite answer, "According to the information I have, yes!" She briefly introduced the latest developments, "Now public opinion is very unfavorable to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and basically everyone sympathizes with Jennifer Aniston."
Matthew nodded. This situation was normal. Jennifer Aniston was the victim, so she naturally gained a lot of sympathy. Moreover, Rachel's persona was far more popular than Pitt and Jolie's.
"Brad Pitt has hired the best public relations experts in the industry," Elena Boyar continued, "and is preparing to launch a crisis public relations campaign regarding this matter."
She laughed to herself, "How should I put it, he's going to use his family for PR. According to what I've learned, a large number of media outlets will soon release news saying that Brad Pitt has always wanted children, has always longed for a large family, but Jennifer Aniston was infertile after her last miscarriage and couldn't give Pitt the large family life he wanted, and then he met Jolie, who particularly loves children..."
At this point, Elena shrugged, "Let me put it this way, you will witness a crisis public relations campaign that will redefine your bottom line."
"Even if he does that," Matthew didn't feel surprised, "it won't clear his name."
"Of course it won't clear his name, how could something like this be cleared?" Elena Boyar reminded, "Pitt doesn't need to clear his name, he just needs to give his fans and supporters a reason they can accept, to make them feel that the star they support had a reason for doing this, and that's enough."
She snorted, "As for Jennifer Aniston, since they've already fallen out, as long as it's beneficial to him, Pitt probably wouldn't mind stabbing her twice more."
Hearing this, Matthew suddenly felt his hair stand on end, only feeling that Hollywood celebrity marriages were simply too terrifying. If he got married in the future, would he also be stabbed in the back? It's better now, he doesn't have to worry about these things.
First, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, then Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, these all gave him too many hints that such a marriage could never be happy.
Rather than having a huge fight in the future and both sides getting hurt, it's better not to get married.
Iliana Boyar then said, "You watch, it won't be long before rumors about Jennifer Aniston's infertility spread all over the world."
She suddenly lowered her voice and adopted a mysterious tone, "Pitt's side is also in contact with me, wanting to get on TMZ's pages."
Matthew became interested, "What are you going to do?"
"Of course, it's to be handled by public relations," Iliana Boyar said as a matter of course, "It can attract eyeballs and earn extra money, so why not do it?"
"Hmm." Matthew scrutinized her carefully, "I'm sure now, you're still the Elena Boyar I know, not secretly replaced by aliens."
Elenana Boyar laughed.
After a while, the dishes she ordered for the two of them were served, and their conversation shifted to food, no longer discussing gossip.
On the third day after Matthew met Elena Boyar, soft articles began to appear in the media, whitewashing Brad Pitt, and the content was similar to what Iliana Boyar had said.
Strangely, Jennifer Aniston did not refute, as if she only wanted to end it quickly rather than get entangled.
At the same time, Helen Herman also sent Matthew the best news he could have hoped for.