Hollywood film stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are holidaying in Namibia, officials and local papers reported on Thursday, with rumours that the pregnant starlet may give birth there.
Immigration officials confirmed the couple jetted into the small Atlantic port of Walvis Bay on Monday morning and were on vacation at a nearby beach resort amid heavy secrecy and tight security.
Jolie and “five persons, among them two children” arrived on a chartered plane in Walvis Bay, which is about 400km west of Windhoek, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation reported, quoting immigration officials.
The star of Tomb Raider and her boyfriend Pitt, with whom she co-starred in Mr & Mrs Smith, were taken to a beachfront lodge along the scenic Long Beach, surrounded by the sand dunes of the Namibian desert.
The resort has been completely cordoned off and security guards were seen patrolling the area, threatening to confiscate cameras, the local German-language Allgemeine Zeitung reported.
Regional police commander Andrew Iyambo told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday that law enforcement was told by Jolie’s staff from Hollywood a month ago that she and Pitt planned to spend time along the Namibian coast.
“We assured them of our support,” Iyambo said. “We cooperate with her security people so that everything is under control,” he said.
When contacted, the resort’s staff where the celebrity couple was apparently staying, denied the presence of Jolie, Pitt and Jolie’s two adopted children Maddox and Zahara.
“We are closed because we are renovating and you cannot book a room with us,” the receptionist of the lodge told AFP upon enquiry.
Jolie, believed to be eight months pregnant, may even remain in Namibia to give birth to her and Pitt’s child, newspapers have said.
The News of the World tabloid reported last week that the celebrity couple decided to have their child in Africa, a continent which they are said to have fallen in love with.
Angelina Jolie has been in Namibia before when the filming of the movie Beyond Borders in 2002. She spent several weeks on the set as footage was shot outside the nearby holiday town of Swakopmund. — AFP