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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie - Source: Getty -
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She used to be the most powerful celebrity in the world, topping Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list last year.
This year, she dropped to #18, after her earnings "plummeted" to US$20 million.
But this week Angelina Jolie has shown just how powerful she is, silencing Hollywood's entertainment newsmakers.
Not even President Obama can achieve such a feat - choosing to personally woo the women of The View , rather than let their opinions pour freely and mindlessly to an audience of millions.
I would argue that makes Jolie the most powerful person in America right now.
Despite Jolie's best efforts though, you will still have heard the story - the one about Princess Di biographer Andrew Morton and his new book Angelina.
In the book, Morton makes all manner of claims - backed up by largely anonymous sources - of Jolie's dark and mysterious past.
Highlights include claims her mother Marcheline Betrand ignored her daughter and left Jolie in the care of nannies for two years.
Morton also alleges Jolie had affairs with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ralph Fiennes, and that she has an intimate tattoo on her "nether parts" written in Helvetica.
All this has been well publicised in newspapers and blog sites around the world.
But you won't hear a peep of it through Hollywood's entertainment news network.
Extra, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider have all chosen to ignore the scandalous tome, despite it earning instant best-seller status.
And despite the fact they whole-heartedly embraced Morton's last book - a similarly unauthorised biography of Tom Cruise.
So just how has Jolie achieved such a feat?
Morton's publishers, St Martin's Press, claim Hollywood is being intimidated into ignoring the story.
Publicity director John Murphy told the Hollywood Reporter the shows are worried about losing access to Jolie and Brad Pitt.
"The feat that might have been imposed on these so-called entertainment news shows by the Brangelina PR machine has got them running scared from the story."
It's not the first time Brangelina has been accused of media manipulation.
In 2008, the New York Times wrote a damning expose of Jolie, revealing just how carefully - and craftily - the actress handles her image.
The story claimed Jolie and Pitt demanded $US14 million for the first pictures of their twins - plus a contractual promise that the magazine's coverage would be positive, not just in that instance but in the future as well.
According to the Times, Jolie controls her public image with her own iron fist - choosing not to employ a publicist or media manager.
When she does deign to give interviews, contracts are put in place to ensure all coverage is positive and that material cannot be used for future stories.
And it's not just the media that have fallen prey to Jolie's stranglehold.
In 2006, she convinced the Namibian government to refuse visas to any foreign journalists unless they had express written permission from the couple.
But how does she get away with it?
In part, it's the fault of flexible journalistic standards of tabloid media and competition between outlets.
If everyone maintained the same standards and refused to give in to Jolie's demands, there wouldn't be an issue. But as soon as one magazine caves, the rest all follow suit.
It's every editor for him or her self.
And while it's easy to lay blame with such editors, it's the public who really seal this deal.
People Magazine's special on Brangelina's twins was its highest selling issue in seven years.
That's worth millions of advertising dollars... and as we well know, money equals power.
She may not be the richest actress in Hollywood but as long as Jolie can make or break the media's fortunes, she will remain the most powerful.
Read more of Joanna Hunkin's articles.
