
I didn’t really understand why this story became a big deal a few days ago. It’s all about legendary super-agent Sue Mengers, who was a big deal in the 1970s and 1980s. She was friends with all of the big stars, she threw lavish, cocaine-soaked parties and she was brilliant at promotion and self-promotion in the era before the internet. Mengers died this year, and New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd eulogized her in a NYT Magazine piece. In the piece, Dowd mentions an anecdote about Mengers and her friendship with Jennifer Aniston. I’ve actually read comments from Mengers about her friendship with Aniston before – Mengers never rep’d Aniston, but Mengers acted as an “advisor” of sorts for Aniston for years. Mengers thought Aniston was awesome and fabulous, and Mengers had harsh words for Angelina Jolie. Anyhoodle, Dowd claims that Menger “advised” Aniston to ask for Brad Pitt’s sperm after they had split up:
Top Hollywood agent Sue Mengers gave Jennifer Aniston some plum advice when she split with husband Brad Pitt — ask Pitt for a sperm donation.
Bizarrely, Maureen Dowd delivers this shocking showbiz tidbit in an ode to Mengers, who died this year, in The New York Times Magazine. Dowd recalls, “She was a yenta who loved fixing people up, in work and in love. If a match struck, she would urge the woman, ‘We have to close the deal.’ After Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie, Mengers told me that she advised her beloved Jen to ask Brad for some of his sperm.”
Comments like this, as stinging as it may have been to the heartbroken Aniston at the time, were apparently part of Mengers’ nature. The agent — who threw parties attended by Jack Nicholson, Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Aaron Sorkin, and many others — was known for her brash ideas. She was a close [friend] to many stars, including Aniston.
“The first woman to become the Man among Hollywood superagents was full of exhilarating vulgarity,” writes Dowd. “Mengers presided with a devilish wit and an angelic smile, a dirty, flirty girl with devastating timing.”
Presumably, Aniston did not take Mengers’ advice. Instead, she appears to have a more laidback approach to motherhood.
“There’s no desperation,” Aniston told Elle in October. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I’m at peace with whatever the plan is.”
[From Page Six]
Am I missing something? Why is this story getting so much ink? A former “super-agent” told her recently divorced mentee to get some of her ex-husband’s sperm… for what? So that Aniston could have Brad’s baby after they had split up? So Aniston could further insinuate herself into Brad’s life after they were over? So that Aniston could get pregnant with Brad’s baby and he would come running back to Jennifer? I don’t understand this plot. At all. It actually makes Aniston look bad, in my opinion, which probably isn’t what Mengers wanted? Except that I suspect that Mengers advised Aniston to play the “pity party” card for a long time.


Photos courtesy of WENN, archive image of Mengers.


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