| Angelina Jolie has a "deadly disease"
Jolie 'emaciated and exhausted'
HOLLYWOOD star Angelina Jolie has a "deadly disease", an influential major showbiz newspaper is claiming.
The actress and campaigner for child poverty has sparked concern recently with a massive plunge in weight.
She appeared overnight at a charity news conference in Washington looking emaciated and exhausted.
America's The National Enquirer magazine is reporting this week that Jolie has a potentially fatal "serious health problem."
Pre-publication shots of the cover show headlines claiming Jolie is "losing her hair", suffers "uncontrollable shaking" and is plagued by blinding headaches.
It also adds her beau Brad Pitt will stand by the actress, despite rumours as to the state of their relationship.
Jolie's brother James Haven has publicly stated he is worried about his sister's health, though he was more concerned with her shocking weight loss since giving birth to baby Shiloh last May.
He has also told a British paper that she was not eating well and that both he and Pitt were concerned and pushing her towards a healthier lifestyle.
Their mother died in January adding to Jolie's pressure.
But the 32-year-old Tomb Raider star has carried on with a string of high-profile engagements including her UN charity work and the recent adoption of Vietnamese baby Pax Thien.
Pax joined Jolie's and Pitt's Cambodian-born adopted son Maddox and Zahara, who was adopted from Ethiopia, plus Shiloh.
Last night a noticeably thin Jolie spoke in Washington to announce the formal launch of Global Action for Children, an advocacy organization dedicated to orphans' and children's issues.
She pushed for more US aid for education in developing countries during an event to help an orphans advocacy group establish its headquarters in the United States capital.
"This is a happy day because it is not often enough that these children are represented in this town," Jolie said.
Jolie appeared with four others to open the Washington headquarters of Global Action for Children, a nonpartisan advocacy group formed in 2003.
The group, supported by a collection of charities, religious groups and nongovernmental organisations, wants the Bush administration to commit an additional $US2.5 billion ($A3 billion) a year to education and to aiding orphans in developing countries.
"The crisis has far outpaced the funding," said Jennifer Delaney, the group's executive director.
Jolie said orphan children sometimes beat the odds and survive but often are enslaved, resort to prostitution or are forced to become child soldiers. She said vulnerable children could be recruited to join terrorist organisations.
"Our government has the power to choose which path these children are going to take," Jolie told reporters at the National Press Club. "We know the consequences of our inaction."
Jolie has adopted three orphan children, but said any help that people in the US can offer is better than nothing. "The best solution for anyone who is abandoned or displaced is to be home (in their own countries)," Jolie said. "I would support that first and foremost."
Jolie demurred when asked if her cause might be better served if she became more political or ran for elective office. "I certainly don't think anybody wants that," she said, laughing.
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