Pitt ‘calls Aniston pathetic for architecture mag cover’

The American magazine Architectural Digest probably never expected to find itself in the middle of a spat between two of Hollywood's biggest stars.

After all, what could be contentious about Jennifer Aniston giving the mag a tour around her newly refurbished house overlooking Beverly Hills, and curling up in a Lobel Modern tub chair for the cover photo?

The answer is simple: her former husband Brad Pitt, who left her in 2005 to live with Angelina Jolie, is a genuine architecture buff who has graced the pages of Architectural Digest more than once to publicise his campaign to rebuild the lower ninth ward of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

However, according to the actor's friends, his passion for architecture was never shared by his wife; he even complained about Jennifer making fun of his interest, which included commissioning the great Frank Gehry to design his wine cellar and going through an "informal apprenticeship" at Gehry's Los Angeles offices.

So when Pitt caught up with the March issue of Architectural Digest he was apparently amazed to see Aniston on the cover. According to a friend who spilled the beans to US Weekly, Pitt called it a "pathetic" and "desperate" ploy to get his attention.

If Aniston is a mere dilettante, as Pitt is reportedly suggesting, then she made a good effort to hide it during her interview with the Digest. Boasting that the house "vibrates with the love that created it," she explained: "I want to celebrate the people who made it: the master craftsmen who poured so much of themselves into its creation."

But what will Pitt make of the latest issue of Architectural Digest? On the cover this time is Gerard Butler, showing off his New York loft. Butler is the British actor with whom Aniston has been cavorting around the world to publicise their film, The Bounty Hunter. No one is sure whether it's a real romance, or, as one gossip mag put it, a 'faux-mance' designed to sell a film which, following terrible reviews, needs all the help it can get.

Either way, there's a good chance the mag will go straight in the recycling bin at Chateau Jolie-Pitt. ·