Were Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt really caught together in Cannes last week? A tabloid is claiming to know all about their trip and the actor's "romantic French proposal." But Gossip Cop can debunk the allegations.
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The new cover of NW announces Pitt and Aniston were "busted in Cannes." It was designed to make readers think they were caught on a romantic vacation together, one in which Pitt proposed marriage. But the article inside the edition is about how the former spouses supposedly made a "top-secret visit" to the Cannes Film Festival "last week" to pitch "several projects to movie producers. That's the "proposal" to which the teaser on the front of the issue refers.
"Brad thought it would be a great idea for them to go over and quietly network with some studio bosses," a so-called "film festival insider" is quoted as saying. The gossip magazine claims Aniston was "reluctant" to make the trip at first, because the South of Frances holds "painful memories," given that she and Pitt were at Cannes together for the 2004 premiere of his film Troy. Bizarrely, readers are supposed to believe the purported "film festival insider" is close enough to Aniston as well to know that she "remembers" that prior trip as "one of their last happy moments as a married couple."
This questionable source goes on to contend that Pitt "convinced" Aniston to return to the hot spot, and the outlet asserts their "secret trip to the French Riviera wasn't all business." It's alleged they also "got in some pleasure too," by recreating "many of the dates they had during their last trip to France together." But how come Pitt and Aniston weren't photographed in Cannes together, or even separately, in recent weeks? After all, they're two of the most-followed celebrities on the planet. Conveniently, the "film festival insider" maintains they did their "sightseeing at night" in order to "get around undetected."
Yet to trick readers into thinking there is proof they were "busted" out together, the publication features photos of the stars taking in the sights in a moonlit boat. The tabloid just fails to mention that the snapshots are from Aniston and Pitt's visit to the Seine River in Paris, an entirely different part of the country, back in 2004. In other words, the stars were, in fact, seen together in France… more than a decade ago. As opposed to be being spotted at this year's film festival "last week," as alleged, Pitt was actually photographed at a U2 concert thousands of miles away in California on May 16.
There's two other false premises at play here. Gossip Cop already shot down NW last month when it wrongly alleged Pitt and Aniston were planning on starring in a movie together. The "Friends" star's rep confirmed to us on the record that the claim was a complete fabrication. Obviously, then, they wouldn't really be going to France to pitch (nonexistent) projects. More significantly, the magazine is working off the notion that the former couple has reconciled romantically. But People already explained earlier this year why a Aniston-Pitt reunion is "unlikely," due to their complicated history and very different lifestyles.
Gossip Cop would be remiss if we didn't also mention that it was just a week ago that this same outlet claimed Aniston was getting back together with John Mayer. That tale came after the publication previously alleged in March that she and Pitt were "married in Paris." Tellingly, neither of those contentions are mentioned in this new cover story about being "busted in Cannes." It's quite apparent that not only does the publication disregard accuracy and consistency, but it has no qualms about feeding readers blatant misinformation. Gossip Cop, on the other hand, is committed to fact-checking, and the evidence shows this report is entirely untrue.
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