Do celebrities have the right to complain?

[BetteDavisEyes]

Britney, Brad Bash "Us"
Thu Feb 17, 2:15 PM ET Entertainment - E! Online Gossip/Celeb
By Sarah Hall

What do Britney Spears (news) and Brad Pitt have in common?

Besides the obvious--fame, fortune, obsessive fans, etc.--the stars share a strong distaste for Us Weekly.
Both A-listers have lashed out at the glossy in recent days over spreads awarding them unwanted attention.
Spears' beef with Us began when the mag published unauthorized photos of her honeymoon with hubby, Kevin Federline--or K. Fed, as he's been rechristened in the press--in its Feb. 28 issue.

The pop diva said she was "disturbed" to see the spread featuring pics from her "private honeymoon album," which depicted the newlyweds soaking up intimate moments at the Fijian resort where they vacationed.

"Kevin and I chose a resort location where we were promised absolute privacy and seclusion. Unfortunately, staff members took photographs of us, which we allowed them to take once we were assured they were being taken only for private use in a scrapbook they gave us as a souvenir of our honeymoon," a distressed Spears said in a statement.

"Other magazines, including the Star, contacted us when presented with these photographs and refused to publish them. Kevin and I thank those other magazines for respecting our rights of privacy."

It's possible that the higher-ups at Us Weekly may have a wee beef with Spears as well.

In a recent sitdown with Details magazine for a cover story on the new and improved K. Fed (not a dancer, not yet an A-lister), Spears didn't bother to pull any punches while giving her opinion on the publication.
"I need to create my own magazine," the "Toxic" singer announced. "People are just way too obsessed with celebrity. Look at Us Weekly. I think the same guy who does Rolling Stone does Us Weekly. He's this big old fat man."
(Note: Jann Wenner is the publisher of both Us Weekly and Rolling Stone.)
For the record, Us agrees with Spears that she should start her own magazine.

In response to Spears' statement regarding the publication of her honeymoon pics, the mag indicated that the pop tart has been less than reclusive in the past.
"Coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter, it's unlikely the issue here is privacy," an Us Weekly spokesperson said in a statement.
"Could it be that Britney is seeing red after not seeing the green from these photos? Britney Spears should start a magazine if she'd like to dictate her own coverage."
Touche.
Meanwhile, Spears has competition for angriest celeb of the week in the form of Pitt, after Us published photos claiming to show the thesp strolling a beach in Greece, sans wedding ring, in the company of model April Florio while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston (news).

In the accompanying article, Florio, 22, who was reportedly introduced to Pitt when she auditioned for a part in Troy, tells the magazine that she met him three more times in 2003--twice in Los Angeles and once in New York--but that nothing improper occurred, at least on her end.
"He tried to kiss me, but I shied away," Florio said, stating her disdain for getting involved with someone "in the industry."
The model also dished on Pitt's opinions of Aniston ("He hated his wife's chain-smoking. He also hated the fact that she liked to hang with her friends or just stay at home. He liked to go to parties more.") and Angelina Jolie ("He talked about her like she was a goddess.").
However, in a new interview with rival Star magazine, Florio denies making any of the remarks attributed to her by Us, claims she is not the woman pictured with Pitt and states that she met the big-screen hunk "only once, very briefly, at a party."
On Pitt's part, the Ocean's Twelve star categorically denied Us Weekly's version of events through various reps and is generally loaded for legal action.
"Brad has never been in Greece, and is not the person in those photographs in Greece. Brad does not know April Florio. He has never had dinner with her. He is not acquainted with her," the thesp's lawyer told Star. "Could he possibly have met her at some time? Maybe, because he meets so many people, but he does not ever recall meeting her. And he has certainly never had dinner and drinks with her.
"We don't really know who is responsible for these stupid, absolutely untrue, fabricated stories. For now, Brad is exploring all his legal options."
Us Weekly, unlike Florio, stands by its story.

After reading this article, I started to wonder about celebrities & their constant complaints about the press. They chose to go into this career knowing full well that the paparrazzi (sp?) would forever hound them as well as fabricate stories about them. When does it go too far? Do they have the right to complain or is it just part of the job?