Reese Witherspoon
Star magazine has hit a baby bump in the road.Reese Witherspoon filed a lawsuit against the publication Wednesday, arguing that a "phony" June 26 cover story headlined "Reese & Julia--Baby #3" and featuring shots of Witherspoon and Julia Roberts was a "callous effort to boost the tabloid's sagging sales," according to court documents obtained by E! Online.
The Oscar winner is claiming she has suffered significant distress and damage to her good name because of the story.
In a statement, Star's attorney called the lawsuit "frivolous."
The magazine cover in question directed readers to check out the inside pages to "get all the happy details," apparently referring to Witherspoon's alleged pregnancy. "Going for Baby No. 3!" was the tagline in the issue's table of contents.
The cover photo also appeared front and center on Star's Website.
The story, on pages 56 and 57 of the June 26 issue, went on to quote a source mulling over "what appeared to be a four-month baby bump" spotted on the 30-year-old actress while she was sunning on the beach in May.The unidentified observer also said that Witherspoon was wearing an "old-fashioned 1920s-style bathing suit that covered her tummy" and that she spotted the Legally Blonde star at another time coming out of a Santa Monica baby boutique "carrying a bag from the store."
And, according to the article, the source had seen Witherspoon at least three times this past month "always wearing Empire-waist dresses or baggy clothes."
Witherspoon's complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, goes on to cite another large picture of her in the June 26 issue featuring a circle drawn around her stomach with the caption: "Reese went shopping in Beverly Hills June 7 wearing another loose-fitting Empire-waist dress. Hmmm..."
The mother of two has expressly denied everything implied by all of the above: Not pregnant. No baby bump. No weight gain. Hasn't been shopping for baby-related items. Period.
Her legal camp also referred to what they called a "despicable" line from the article, which stated that Witherspoon has two movies coming up and she "just doesn't want to break the news to producers just yet," as equally false.While the Star article did state that Witherspoon's reps had denied she was expecting, it quoted the above source saying "she's a very private person and doesn't often talk about it when she's pregnant."
Court documents state that the defamatory cover story portrayed Witherspoon in a "false and offensive light in violation of her right of privacy," and that her reps had alerted Star before the issue was published that the so-called scoop it was going ahead with was untrue, making the magazine's cover a misappropriation of her image.
Aside from Star Editorial, Witherspoon is gunning for parent company American Media Inc.; the writers of the story, Maggie Harbour and Suzy McCoppin; and the as-yet unidentified editor(s) who worked on the piece.
Witherspoon is asking for an unspecified amount of damages and her lawyers noted in the suit that they are demanding a jury trial. The first hearing in the case has been set for Oct. 23.
"It is a frivolous lawsuit. It has no legal merit and we intend to vigorously defend it and have every confidence that we will prevail," said Mike Kahane, the general counsel for American Media.
Meanwhile, what we know for sure about Witherspoon's public-private life is that she has two children with husband Ryan Phillippe, six-year-old Ava Elizabeth and two-year-old Deacon, and that she'll appear with Christina Ricci in the romantic fable Penelope and is signed up to star in Sports Widow, a comedy about a frustrated wife who takes up her husband's sport of choice--watching football--in order to get back at him for neglecting her.
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