Hollywood glamour pair Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie tried to slip into a vacation resort last week in a sleepy part of Namibia using the names of the characters they played in a film of Mr and Mrs Smith.
The couple has declined to confirm reports of their stay at game lodges between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund in the south-western African state, or the purpose of their visit that follows on a trip to Paris.
But word of their presence is out and their silence on the subject has prompted the rumour mills to crank into overdrive.
Jolie (30) is expecting the couple’s first biological child in a few weeks. She and Pitt (42) have taken a breather from their busy schedules as two of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors to spend time with their adopted children Maddox and Zahara.
In recent days, tabloids and entertainment news sites have widely reported that Jolie and Pitt are holed up in Namibia, having booked all the rooms at their lodge to ensure their privacy.
There have also been reports that angry lions have been assigned to guard the foursome and that Jolie plans to give birth at a local clinic. Hollywood insiders are also discussing the monetary value of photographs of the couple’s expected celebrity baby.
While Namibians have became aware, mostly through foreign media reports carried by local newspapers, that the stars of the Mr and Mrs Smith action film are in town, most can’t understand the fuss.
In a letter to a Namibian newspaper, a reader politely urged Jolie and Pitt to make a public appearance and sign autographs.
Some merely dismiss the media frenzy, saying ”we’ll have to live with it until they are out”.
All week Stefan Fischer, the editor of a local newspaper, has been fielding queries about the couple’s stay, the desert country and its medical facilities.
”We get more and more enquiries from colleagues in the United States,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, adding that he has also been getting calls from celebrity watchers in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Asked about foreign expectations of ”excitement” among locals at the idea of being close to two of Hollywood’s biggest names, Fischer says, ”Namibians are not so impressed.”
If Jolie did indeed plan to give birth in Namibia, Walvis Bay has a state-of-the-art clinic, revamped in the 1990s and renowned for its midwife-assisted and water births.
If she visits the Soussesvlei area over the Easter weekend as reported, the young mother will be treated to a magnificent tourist experience.
Namibia’s central Nambi-Naukluft area is surrounded by some of the largest desert sand dunes in the world. Her visit comes after weeks of heavy rain that has turned the desert spectacularly green. — Sapa-DPA