KEY POINTS:
She's one of the most beautiful women in the world, a talented actress who lives with the sexiest man on the planet and who has a penchant for doing high-profile good deeds.
But now - perhaps inevitably - the Angelina Jolie backlash has begun.
For the backers of
her new film, A Mighty Heart, the story of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, the rash of negative publicity around Jolie's recent activities is becoming a worry.
First was a disastrous PR gaffe after one of Jolie's overzealous lawyers tried to force journalists to sign a contract before they could interview her for the film's publicity drive. The document told reporters they could not ask Jolie any personal questions and that the interview: ' ... could only be used to promote the picture'.
The existence of a legal contract saw many reporters, including those from USA Today and the Associated Press news agency, cancel interviews.
That the movie is about press freedom made the story all the more ironic. "Jolie turns out to be a mighty hypocrite when it comes to her own freedom of the press," said Fox TV correspondent Roger Friedman.
Jolie's staff had previously tried to ban Fox journalists from covering the film's premiere, until Paramount studio intervened. At the same time some of the adulatory coverage of Jolie associated with the film has itself become the subject of intense criticism.
Men's magazine Esquire is putting Jolie - barely clothed - on the cover of its July issue. The magazine is also running a lengthy profile and interview with Jolie inside. Yet instead of getting people to watch the movie, the piece has been the subject of intense media-bashing.
On the popular American online magazine Slate the article has been trashed under the headline: "The worst celebrity profile ever written?" Journalist Ron Rosenbaum takes Esquire to task for treating Jolie with kid gloves. "In the history of fawning gentlemen's magazine profiles, there is unlikely to be a more ludicrous example," Rosenbaum wrote.
Perhaps some of the backlash is the inevitable consequence of how Jolie and Brad Pitt have skilfully exploited the intense media interest in their lives in return for publicity for charities and causes they are interested in. But even that has started to backfire.
The online celebrity gossip website TMZ recently reported that Jolie has been neglecting a charity in Cambodia that she had promised to support. Other stories in celebrity magazines have criticised her child-rearing skills and speculated that Pitt is now reluctant to marry her.
It is impossible to tell what truth there is in such stories or how much Jolie cares about them. But she still has support in some unlikely areas.
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week heaped praise on the actress for her work raising awareness of landmines and refugees. "Her work with refugees is not something to decorate herself. She studies the issues. For her, it's not about saving the world, it's about saving kids. She doesn't need this. This needed her," he told Newsweek.
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