But if you make one New Year's resolution this year, declare that your life will be a sympathy for Jennifer Aniston free zone. Tell your friends! It's easier than giving up smoking, and so much more satisfying.

Jennifer Aniston is GQ magazine's January cover girl in the US, gracing the front of the mag wearing nothing more than a tie and a smile. There's no two ways about it. She looks sensational. Her skin tone, her hair, that hot body....I didn't have that body at 20, and I certainly won't at 40.

Mind you, she does pay for it. Girl is known as one of the strictest dieters and heaviest smokers in Hollywood.

Anyway, Jennifer is on the promotional trail for her new flick Marley and Me, co-starring Owen Wilson as a couple that adopt a lovable, if slightly unhinged golden Labrador, and the adventures that ensue. She's doing a lot of interviews to push the flick. A lot.

A couple of weeks ago she gave a particularly strongly worded interview about the press intrusion into her life and fiercely defended her right to privacy, saying that her relationships were nobody else's business, that she needed to keep something for herself, it should be about the work, blahdiblah.

Fine, Jen. Fine. That's fine and dandy if you're willing to be an actress who lets their work speak for itself, lives their life low-key, and emerges only when there's a project to promote. They are around, you know. Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Rachel McAdams, Naomi Watts...granted, none of these women were married to Brad Pitt and thus the public interest in them may be substantially lower, but you get my drift.

So Jennifer wants to live privately and wants the press and the public to focus on her work. Lo and behold, weeks later here comes GQ, where Aniston goes on and on and on about John Mayer, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

How can your private life stay private when you're the one blabbing about it?

She refers to the Pitt-Jolie affair as "that insane Bermuda triangle," and goes on at length about the situation - even cracking jokes about it.

"The funny thing is that people don't realize we all go away to the Hamptons on the weekends. Can you imagine? That'd be hysterical: I've got Zahara on my hip, and Knox..."

She and the writer talk about the Brangelina (they reportedly hate that moniker, thus I will use it!) for over twenty minutes, on the record and off the record, and days later she was still emailing him usable quotes for the piece.

"How Jen feels about Angelina is pretty much exactly how you think she'd feel," writes the mag.

She also spoke at length about boyfriend John Mayer, whom GQ refers to as a ‘notorious swordsman.'

Ewwwww!

Does this sound like a woman who would like to keep her private life under wraps to you? Does it?

The bottom line is, if Jen didn't have Angie and Brad to talk about, no one would want to interview her. Even before she and Pitt split up, her post-Friends career was not setting the box office on fire. You really think people want to read about her playing with puppies in Miami? Or the movie she has in pre-production called Pumas, a ‘female Wedding Crashers?' Ho hum. But then, how many Jennifer Aniston movies have you ever been excited about seeing? The Break Up? Derailed? Rock Star? And don't even get me started on Rumour Has It.

Bottom line: If Jennifer Aniston had not married and divorced Brad Pitt, she would have the same level of fame as fellow Friend-sters Courteney Cox Arquette (still registering on the strength of being Jen's best friend) or Lisa Kudrow. Personally, I think Lisa's a better actress and Courteney's better looking, but neither of them married Hollywood's golden boy, did they?

I don't mean to bitch. She's entitled to her feelings. But this woman, for all her moaning and pleading that she's over it, she's never been better, she's not interested in digging up the past, obviously is not over it and can't move on herself. Does she think Angie and Brad are still dwelling on her, in their French chateau with their six kids and their bajillions of dollars? I bet she doesn't even enter their heads.

Move on, Jen. But if you actually do stop talking about your private life, don't expect the public to keep caring.

Read the entire interview here

The race is on!

This year's awards season officially kicked off today with the announcement of nominee's for the 2009 Golden Globes, to be held in LA (naturally) on January 11.

The internet is all aflutter with Tom Cruise's nomination for his cameo role as a balding studio executive in Tropic Thunder. I haven't seen it, but those who have say his turn is certainly not worth winning any hardware. He wears a fat suit and a baldie wig. Big deal.

But seeing as he's up against Robert Downey Jr. for his role in the same movie, Ralph Fiennes for The Duchess, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt and the late Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, I don't like his odds.

Tommy Girl's nomination guarantees he, and quite possibly wife-unit Katie Holmes, will be at the ceremony. As will Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, nominated for their roles in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Changeling. Have heard David Fincher's Benjamin Button, co-starring the lovely and talented Cate Blanchett, is a must-see.

Kate Winslet, whom I love, is up for two this year - Best Actress for Revolutionary Road (co-star Leo also got a nod) and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. Go Kate!

I'm seeing Best Picture nominee Slumdog Millionaire next week. Am really looking forward to it since it's supposed to be a bolter for Oscar season - it's set in India, and helmed by Danny (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) Boyle.

One of my favourite movies this year, In Bruges is up for Best Picture Musical or Comedy as well as nominations for starts Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Go the Irish boys! Do go and see it if you haven't already, it's well worth the trip.

Trouble in picture-perfect paradise?

Several months ago Gwyneth Paltrow launched GOOP, a lifestyle website and newsletter in which the Oscar-winning actress gives mere mortals like you and I tips on what to wear, eat and do to be more like her. Because, naturally, everyone aspires to be more like Gwyneth.

I did try and subscribe - for work purposes, of course. But I never received a one! I think I've been virtually dissed by Gwyneth.

Nevertheless, the rumours just won't go away that Ms Paltrow's life may not be as perfect as she projects, with whispers that her five-year marriage to Coldplay front man Chris Martin is in very serious trouble.

Could Madonna's split with Guy Ritchie have prompted Gwyneth to reassess her own marital status? And if Madonna jumped off a bridge, would Gwyneth follow?

Since they've made a pact never to be seen out in public together it makes it kind of hard to analyse their body language, but I can't see Gwyneth giving up without a fight. Divorce is far to commonplace for the likes of her. She makes her tuna sandwiches with tuna steaks, after all.

The gossip reached fever pitch a few weeks ago when Gwyneth appeared at the Victoria's Secret fashion show in Miami rather than on the road with her husband's band. Initially, it does seem weird. She's hardly a strut around in lingerie kind of girl. You hardly ever even see snaps of her in a swimsuit. But there she was, slumming it in the press line with the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian and Brody Jenner.

The show was held at Miami's Fontainebleau hotel, which just underwent a multi, multi-million dollar revamp. Apparently our Gwynnie is friends with the billionaire developer, Jeff Soffer. No more, no less. We'll see. Keep your eyes peeled for this one.

But who would be next for our Gwyneth? She needs wealthy. I think she needs someone older. And she's always been partial to hobnobbing with minor European royalty and continental movers and shakers. Someone like Arpad Busson, Elle Macpherson's ex and Uma Thurman's fiancé, would be ideal. Does he have any like-minded friends?

Spotted

Elizabeth Hurley arriving at the airport in Barbados...Hillary Duff leaving her pilates class in Los Angeles...Matthew McConaughey shopping for groceries in Beverly Hills with girlfriend Camila and baby son Levi...Newly engaged Kendra Wilkinson out shopping in West Hollywood...Denise Richards lunching in Malibu...Fergie making an appearance for MAC cosmetics in Selfridges, London...Tobey Maguire's wife Jennifer Meyer shopping in LA...Adam Sandler, Keri Russell and Russell Brand at the British premiere of their movie Bedtime Stories in London...Scarlett Johansson at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway...