British Tabloid Suffers Wrath of 'Brangelina'

Cover of Mr & Mrs Smith [Blu-ray]

The U.K.'s best-selling newspaper, the Sunday tabloid NewsoftheWorld, is bracing for a libel war with Hollywood glamour couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

While Pitt, 46, and Jolie, 34, watched the Super Bowl Sunday from a private box in Miami's Sun Life stadium (to avoid other fans asking "Who dat?"), their lawyers readied a claim for filing Monday in London's High Court.
 The defendant tabloid on Jan. 24, according to the lawsuit, published false and intrusive allegations that the power couple planned to separate and had worked out custody arrangements for their six children and a division of their alleged assets of $320 million.

Pitt and Jolie became an item while filming the action/comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005.  Pitt is divorced from actress and tabloid fave Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie was twice-married, to actors Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller, both of which ended in divorce.

Under British libel law, the burden of proof rests with the publisher to prove the truth of the statements in dispute. In contrast, in the U.S., public figures carry the burden of showing the article at issue was both false and published with actual malice.