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At last year’s Cannes they were the most watched couple, with every magazine, paper and website publishing pictures of a very pregnant Angelina Jolie with a very proud Brad Pitt at her side. But this year things couldn’t be more different. Rumours are rife that Brad Pitt may turn up to the 62nd annual festival without Angelina, amid stories that they are on the verge of a break-up.

Now magazine has reported that Pitt, 45, is so unhappy with Jolie that he’s been begging ex-wife Jennifer Aniston to take him back. It is also claimed that Angelina is so humiliated that Brad is friends with Jen again that she packed his bags. “Angie went mad and told Brad not to bother coming back,” an insider told Now magazine. “She told him he’d humiliated her for the last time and that if he wanted to go back to his boring shallow life with Jen, that was fine by her.” It’s still not clear whether Angelina will be taking time off from filming her latest film Salt to attend the Cannes festivities.

Brad will be at the festival promoting his latest film, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, which premieres next Wednesday, while Angelina is scheduled to arrive on Saturday 20 May. If she doesn’t show up it could signal a nail in the coffin of their turbulent relationship.

We’re watching this space with baited breath.

Return to 2009's Cannes Film Festival special