With Angelina Jolie’s rumored involvement in both The Tourist and Gucci, of course the rumors have come back around to her career somehow equaling problems with Brad. This spring I developed a little working theory about Angelina’s work schedule and the tabloids, and I think I’m right. It seems that whenever Angelina is working and Brad isn’t, the tabloids have a field day with stories about how Angelina’s career is destroying Brad’s soul. Granted, there are still breakup rumors when Brad’s working and Angelina isn’t (or when both aren’t working), but there’s an extreme fervor to it when it’s Angelina on a film set. Part of it could simply be that there are better pictures when Angelina is working – when she filmed Salt in New York and Washington this spring, there were so many photos of her running around on set, while there was only a few of Brad here and there, usually with the kids. With those kinds of pictures, the tabloids can run endless stories about how Brad wants Angelina to spend more time with the kids.

For her part, Angelina has given the tabloids some ammunition about her work schedule. In the past, she’s said that she was taking time off, but then signed on for another role. When she was promoting Changeling, she said that she was aiming for one film a year. For the most part, when she gets asked about her schedule, she adds a “probably” or a “maybe” in there, and she’s just talking about how her schedule looks at the moment. My point? She usually pretty honest, but she has contradicted herself a few times. BURN HER, right? After she filmed Changeling in November-December of 2007, she didn’t walk on to a set again until March of this year, for Salt. And it looks like Salt is the only film she’s going to do this year, and it will be her only film for a two-year period (or longer). However, both The Tourist and Gucci will likely film next year, if Angelina ends up signing on for them.

Anyway, on to In Touch’s “Brangelina’s in trouble because Angelina won‘t just stay barefoot and pregnant and never work” story.

For Brad Pitt, this could very well be the final straw. After promising Brad she would take a break from movie work and be a full-time mom to their six kids, Angelina has gone back on her word yet again. Friends say Brad’s so furious over this betrayal that he’s considering ending their troubled relationship once and for all.

“She says she wants to put her family first – but when a good role comes along, she forgets all that. Brad thinks she’s being selfish,” says a pal.

Another friend says Angelina is throwing herself into work “as a way not to dwell” on her crumbling relationship with Brad. She has struggled with low points in the past, and her pattern has always been to immediately find a movie to throw herself into, even once admitting that her chosen roles are her form of therapy. “Pretending to be someone else for 14 hours a day makes her problems feel less real,” says the friend.

Instead of putting in [the effort to make their relationship work], Angelina has chosen to escape – and Brad’s now teetering even closer to splitting up with Angelina for good.

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, November 2 2009]

I should also mention that Brad has filmed three movies to Angelina’s one movie in the past two years. But Brad’s the one whose “angry” and “betrayed” because of her work schedule, right? I have a more interesting story – Brad actually seems like some kind of quiet, respectful feminist who is totally cool with and supportive of his partner’s career. Why is that angle never represented? Probably because that’s not the kind of story that will appeal to In Touch’s readership who are, I can only assume, suffering from some kind of brain damage and are unable to remember that every single IT Brangelina story involves some kind of epic “last straw”.

Brad and Angelina are shown at the BAFTA Awards on 2/8/09. Credit: WENN.com