Brad Pitt’s holiday timing

Happy Thanksgiving to our American gossips!

In between all the cooking and/or lounging around and/or watching football and/or online shopping, could you spare a moment to feel for Brad Pitt? Because the holidays are an “emotional time” for him. And, conveniently, we are being told about all his emotions, particularly to do with family. 

PEOPLE yesterday published an “exclusive” about Brad ahead of American Thanksgiving and how thankful he is to have Ines de Ramon in his life since, well, his children don’t want him in their lives. Sorry, was that harsh? How can it be harsh when that’s what we’re doing here? 

After all, holidays are typically when people gather with their families – but it’s been over NINE YEARS since Brad has been seen in public with his children, and he can’t even float the suggestion, through strategically placed stories at celebrity-friendly outlets, that he actually does spend time with them just for the cameras, not when the majority of his kids don’t even want his last name. Stories like this, then, in PEOPLE seem like they’re timed to offset… you know… any conversation about Brad and his non-existent relationship with his children. 

“The holidays are always a more emotional time for Brad,” a source exclusively tells PEOPLE, speaking to the A-lister's complicated relationship with his six children with ex-wife Angelina Jolie. “With some of the older kids distancing themselves and dropping Pitt from their last name, of course it adds another layer of sadness.”

The source adds that Pitt, 61, “has always wanted to be a devoted father and that’s never changed.”

The subtext here is that he wants to be a devoted father…and someone won’t let him. Which follows that comment about “some of the older kids distancing themselves” – so the “devoted” part is designed to soften that reality, and it’s not even all that accurate. Because it’s not just “some of the older kids”, it’s literally a majority of the kids, older and younger. Shiloh is the third youngest of the children who legally changed her name as quickly she could so that Pitt isn’t part of it. Vivienne is actually the youngest, and she did not want Pitt in her name in her professional credits. Maddox and Zahara have also only used Jolie as their last name. The suggestion, then, that it’s the older kids, aka the adopted non-white ones, is gross and misleading. 

But the purpose of the story is to continue to maintain and protect Brad Pitt’s public image. So far, after all these years, even though it’s been pretty widely reported what he’s been accused of, and even though none of his children appear to be interested in associating with him, Brad has remained professionally unaffected. But, sure, doesn’t he deserve your sympathy?