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Ange, Brad anger Namibians
28/04/2006 09:30 - (SA)
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| Ann Curry, left, of NBC News and Angelina Jolie pose with children in Namibia, where the star might have Brad Pitt's baby. (NBC, Christian Martin, AP)
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Barbara Jones, Die Burger
Swakopmund - Angelina Jolie's Hollywood dream of giving birth to her baby under African skies, soothed by the singing of tribal mantras while immersed in warm water, are going sadly askew.
She might have imagined that for the last two months of her pregnancy, she would be tucked up with lover Brad Pitt and their two adopted children in a romantic lodge on a Namibian beach, soaking up the peace and tranquillity.
Instead, she has been surrounded by burly security guards and had made enemies in the coastal resort of Swakopmund, where even schoolchildren and the elderly have been cleared off the stretch of beach, near their rented home.
A local restaurateur had been paid to shut up shop for the rest of the season.
Brad 'broke my heart'
Angelina, who fell in love with Brad Pitt during the making of Mr and Mrs Smith, their action-romance movie together, has been the focus of media attention since Pitt left his wife, Jennifer Aniston, for her.
He has since signed papers to join Angelina as legal guardian of her two adopted children.
Jennifer Aniston has said that Brad broke her heart by deciding to have a family with Angelina. At 30, this would be her first natural child.
Always the wackiest star in Hollywood - she and her previous husband, Billybob Thornton, wore vials of each other's blood around their necks - Angelina chose Africa for the start of their family life together.
Traditional birth attendants
She has loved Namibia since she made her film, Beyond Borders there in 2002, and has told friends she "feels right" in the wild and desolate countryside there.
It was her idea to spend time before the birth in an African setting, and to have her baby in as natural way as possible.
Welwitschia Private Hospital has a birthing pool and traditional birth attendants, and might be her choice once in labour. Other rumours said she might choose to give birth out in the bush.
She was a regular guest and financial supporter of Harnas Wildlife Reserve in eastern Namibia, near the Botswana border, and was expected to visit there this week.
She has been handing out clothes and sweets in a township, near Swakopmund, arriving in a convoy of jeeps and surrounded by bodyguards.
Brad, Angelina spent R2m on security
Princess Diana-like, she kneeled to chat to the children of poor families and blessed them with her celebrity smile - before returning to her own luxurious surroundings.
She and Brad have apparently spent more than R2m on heavyweight security on 24-hour alert, paranoid about the very notion of photographs being taken or autographs demanded.
Yet, as local people in Swakopmund pointed out, this was a showbiz couple made famous through the oxygen of publicity.
In the past few days, they have persuaded Namibian police and the governor of Etosha province to warn journalists that they could not work in the country without a permit.
The permits would be granted only to those who included a letter of invitation from Jolie and Pitt with their application.
French photographer Francois Jegou said: "It's complete nonsense. We have difficulties sometimes with temperamental stars, but this is the worst I have ever seen."
- Die Burger
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