I guess those Jon Gosselin-Kate Major covers weren’t selling, so Star Magazine is going back to a classic for this week’s cover story. They’re calling it “Brad & Angie – Broken Home” with a sub-headline “Brad’s drinking and flirting; Angie checks into a hotel; Kids in chaos”. To accompany the piece, we have a lovely cover picture of Angelina Jolie holding little Shiloh’s wrist, outside of a Toys ‘R Us last week. You know what’s weird? Angelina took Zahara to the Toy ‘R Us, too, but Empress Z got cut out of the picture. You know what happens when the Empress get cut out of a pic? She cuts you. On the cover inset, there are photos of Brad in Berlin, drinking a beer (gasp) and standing next to Katja von Garnier, who Star claims is an “ex”. The woman looks a little bit like Laura San Giacomo, and I don’t buy that she’s an “ex”.

Five years after hooking up in a passionate affair that rocked Hollywood, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are spending so much time apart that insiders fear their once-sizzling relationship is irreparably broken.

In the Aug. 17 issue of Star we report that while Angelina was in Los Angeles late last month caring for their six children, Brad was drinking and flirting like a bachelor — with a former flame! — at the Inglourious Basterds premiere in Berlin. Adding insult to injury, Angelina — who’s been stressed out about the steady decay of their relationship — planned to join Brad in Germany for the A-list event, but he disinvited her at the last minute.

“Two days before the trip, Brad told her he thought it was best if she didn’t come,” a source tells Star. “They’ve been fighting a lot, but this really ripped her heart out.”

And Brad’s bad-boy behavior at the July 28 Basterds after party didn’t help their already troubled situation — at all.

“Angie lost it because Brad started drinking at a photo call hours before the premiere and kept going until 4 a.m.!” says a source. “She tried calling him a few times, and he didn’t pick up — so she kept trying until he finally answered. She was nagging him so much that Brad finally shut his phone off.” Brad continued to party with brunette German director — and one-time gal pal — Katja von Garnier!

The littlest victims of the couple’s downward spiral are their children: Maddox, 7, Pax, 5, Zahara, 4, Shiloh, 3, and nearly 13-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne. “The kids have been feeling the tension,” says a source.

[From Star]

I’ll buy a couple of pieces from this story. I’ll buy that Angelina checks into hotels every now and then, because she has always done that. She does a lot of her interviews in hotel rooms, and she and Brad could be slipping off for quickies in hotels, for all we know. I’ll also buy that Brad is drinking a lot lately. Granted, if I had six kids at home, I’d imagine that on those rare nights out, I’d get hammered too. But I find most of the cover story to be along the lines of Star’s other Brangelina cover stories – like the one about Brad sexing up the nanny, or the one about Jennifer Aniston’s limo driver telling all about her hotel trysts.

Just a little side note – Brad Pitt is the producer on the upcoming winter release The Time Traveler’s Wife. He and then-wife Jennifer Aniston bought the rights before their split, and Brad got the property in he divorce. Recently, the screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin was lamenting the fact that Jennifer and Brad would have been “perfect” to play the time traveler and his wife, who are now being played by Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Rubin told OK!, “I just saw them as a perfect version of Henry and Clare. I just found them equally attractive and equally compelling and in terms of the Hollywood arena at that time, they were as good a couple as you could find. I was writing it in my mind for them.” I don’t know… I kind of like that Brad hired his Troy buddy Eric Bana for the role. Eric needs more work – he’s an incredible actor, and shouldn’t be anyone’s second choice.

Here’s Brad at the “Inglourious Basterds” premiere in Berlin on July 28th. Thanks to Celebitchy for the pics!