Life & Style Magazine hasn’t released any excerpts from the cover story yet, which basically means that they know that the issue is going to be controversial and they’re going to take a lot of heat for it, so they don’t want to give away any additional grist for the mill. For what I can see of the cover, L&S is continuing their theme of insinuating that Angelina Jolie is a horrible mother whose sh-tty parenting is turning Shiloh into a tomboy lesbian. The new twist seems to be that Brad is very, very upset that Angelina doesn’t seem to feel any shame about turning their four-year-old into a lesbian, and he wants Angelina to stop talking about Shiloh as if she’s an adorable 4-year-old tomboy going through a phase. Brad wants Angelina to acknowledge that she’s doing irreparable damage to Shiloh for letting Shiloh wear pants, it seems.

L&S is probably pulling lots of quotes from Angelina from her Salt press, in which Jolie talked a lot about how she thought it was “bad parenting” to force your kids to wear certain clothes, and how Shiloh “begged” to have short hair and how Shiloh loves to wear a tie: “that’s her thing.” All of which sound like funny little stories that a mom would tell about her kid, in my opinion. Of course, I did think Angelina should stop talking about Shiloh in general, just because she seemed to give interview after interview about Shi’s tomboy ways, and it was just getting tedious (check out our Shiloh archives for a refresher). Anyway… whatever. I thought the tabloid were past questioning Shiloh’s gender identification, but it seems like they’re going to push this story until Shiloh goes through a girly phase, I guess.

In other Brangelina news, Radar had a funny story yesterday - they interviewed a NOLA local named Melba Leggett Barnes, who is apparently pretty tight with Brad and Angelina after the Make It Right Foundation gave her a house. Melba claims that she was the one to introduce Brad to New Orleans’ Saint Reggie Bush, and she has lots of nice to say about Brad and Make It Right NOLA. The funny part was when she was talking about hanging out with Brad and Angelina, and this happened:

Melba says: “Brad loves New Orleans and he is a cool guy. He has given me a house that I will be in until I die and I will be forever grateful for that. More people are coming back all the time and the residents here are actively involved in the process too. After Katrina people were getting ripped-off all the time by corrupt contractors but now we advise them to go through The Make It Right Foundation if they need work done.”

“We had a lot of fun at our event and Brad took time to talk with a lot of people and that was really appreciated. Angelina was not with him this time but, hopefully, we will get to see her over the holidays with her kids. They have visited our home before, and I like her she is really down-to-earth and their kids are very happy and fun-loving too. Brad really likes my ‘corn-porn’ [her special corn recipe] which I make with green onions and I want to give her the recipe.”

[From Radar]

Okay, I’ll believe that this lady truly adores Brad and that she’s met Angelina and everything. What I don’t buy is that Angelina would ever be like, “Oooh, I need that corn porn recipe!” Angelina has stated time and time again that she only does cereal. She’s not going to make Brad a special corn porn dish, although I would pay good money to see her try.

L&S cover courtesy of CoverAwards.

Last week’s “suck it, haters” People Magazine cover story with Elin Woods scored big at the newsstands. PopEater’s sources have the issue selling a solid 2 million copies, making it one of People’s most successful issues ever. But how does it match up to one of People’s best-selling celebrity covers of all time, their exclusive debut photos of Brangelina’s twins? Well, the Brange twins sold about 2.5 million issues, but People had to pay for them, big time. People did not have to pay for the Elin interview - so, SCORE.

Elin Nordegren’s surprising tell-all on the cover of last week’s PEOPLE magazine had everyone in a tizzy, and not just because she opened up about her philandering ex, Tiger Woods. The magazine was so confident it would be a huge seller, they even raised their price and printed more copies, something they hadn’t done since they debuted Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s twins in August 2008. So did it top Angie’s tots? Not quite, but it still was a monster at the newsstands.

“Everyone at PEOPLE will be popping the champagne this morning,” an editor at a competing weekly tells me. “Early numbers show that Elin sold around 2 million copies, way up from its average of 1.4 million, yet not quite the 2.5 million Angelina sold.”

What makes these numbers particularly staggering is that unlike the $12 million dollars the glossy paid to Angelina for the exclusive first images of Knox Leon and Vivienne, they got Elin to open up for free, making this one of the most profitable issues of all time.

“This wasn’t about the money for Elin,” a friend of Tiger’s ex tells me. “It was about telling her story once and for all. She will be happy that so many people bought the issue and finally read the truth. But now she hopes they all go away and leave her and her family alone. The last thing in the world Elin wanted to be was a celebrity.”

Well, unfortunately for Elin, that cat is out of the bag, and after selling 2 million issues of a single magazine, you can bet the press isn’t going anywhere. However, Elin has a long way to go before she tops the two biggest sellers in the magazine’s 35-year history: the issue covering Princess Diana’s death (3 million) and the issue following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 (4.1 million copies).

[From PopEater]

This is a weird story, considering that Sandra Bullock’s big debut of son Louis was also compared to the Brangelina twins cover - only for that story, the Brangelina cover allegedly sold 2.8 million, not 2.5 million. Allegedly, Sandra’s People cover just about matched the twins’ debut in sales, or fell short by a few thousand or so. So, take it to the bank: everyone wants to read about scorned women and look at photos of babies.

Brad Pitt continued touring homes being rebuilt in New Orleans today, despite strong wind and rain. He's in the Big Easy commemorating the fifth anniversary of the devastation left by hurricane Katrina as well as personally inspecting the progress of his own philanthropic Make It Right Foundation. Angelina Jolie accompanied Brad on the trip but was spotted leaving on a private jet shortly after he filmed a Meet the Press interview with Brian Williams yesterday. His segment airs tomorrow, and he's already been vocal about the progress taking place and what hurdles he predicts the city will face in the future.

To see more photos of Brad in New Orleans, just read more.

Last night, Brian “My Dong Is Large” Williams interviewed Brad Pitt for the NBC Nightly News, all for the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I hadn’t heard about this - I knew Sandra Bullock was doing a Matt Lauer interview, but I didn’t know Brad was getting all up in the Nightly News. Can I just say something about how handsome he is for a second? Brad looks lovely here. This is the prettiest he’s looked in, like, two years. And goddamn he can wear some denim.

Anyway, the interview:

Some quotes:

On NOLA, immediately post-Katrina: “Complete devastation. It was unfathomable. I mean, just– you had no idea that there were families and here. It was just wiped clean. Except for the occasional pile up of homes and– on top of homes.”

Why Make It Right? “I mean, people’s– people build their lives here. And– and– I mean, New Orleans is a unique place to begin with. And I say– a cultural treasure trove for– for America to begin with. But the thing that struck me was that these people were trying to– you know, these people were trying to get home. And– and were having a very difficult time doing so. And as I got into and started studying it, I found out that levy walls were built improperly.”

Et cetera. Brian calls NOLA Brad’s “empire” and says he’s “not so naïve now” because Brad repeats his claim that he started all of this out of naiveté, which he also said in his Douglas Brinkley interview. I think it was a good interview, and I like Brad brings the conversation back to the people of New Orleans and the progress that’s being made.

By the way, Angelina Jolie was also in New Orleans, channeling her inner goth chick:

Angelina and Brad in New Orleans on August 27, 2010 courtesy of Fame.

George Clooney is set to hit the red carpet at this Sunday's Emmys, where he'll be honored with this year's Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. George's charitable heart is one of the reasons we love him, but he always brings his trademark sense of humor to his acceptance speeches. To celebrate George's big night, we're taking a look back at one of our favorite interviews from when he and Brad Pitt were promoting Ocean's 12 in 2004. The two have amazing banter back and forth, testing out their Italian skills, teasing each other, and making a few jokes at the expense of costar Matt Damon. Check it out on today's Flashback Friday!