Entertainment Tonight exposes news about Jolie's twins but is the source credible?

New York -- Celebrity news-magazine Entertainment Tonight aired a story on the birth of the Angelina Jolie twins, despite being told before that the report was based on information from someone impersonating Jolie's assistant.

This news came from documents and two people with knowledge of the exchange. The news-magazine, of course, denied having any knowledge about some sort of imposter before the story was published on its pages. The identity of the imposter remains highly untraced. "Entertainment Tonight" did not name its source at the time. It later revealed that the report was based on emails from someone it thought was Jolie's assistant Holly Groline. The birth of the Jolie twins was confirmed by the show last Friday. A story was posted on its website and an e-mail alert was sent to media outlets. The Associated Press picked up the report. A person with direct knowledge of the conversation told The Associated Press, that Groline stated to Entertainment Tonight that she was not the person who acted as the source for their news, shortly after the story was posted but several hours before the broadcast aired. "Entertainment Tonight was told before the broadcast that their information came from an impostor," said the second person. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. As the much-hyped story was immediately challenged by other celebrity magazines, people said there was constant connection between Groline and Entertainment Tonight via e-mail, text message and telephone, on Friday. "Just this morning, a source who says she was inside the delivery room tells us yes, the babies were born and yes, mother and babies are fine." said Mary Hart, host of the TV show aired on Friday. Later that night, a manager of Jolie's partner, Brad Pitt, told Associated Press that the babies had not been born! A letter from Jolie's attorney is where from they have learned about the imposter, the show said in a statement - three days after the broadcast. The show further stated, "Entertainment Tonight takes this very seriously and is, of course, concerned that the show may have been victimized by someone allegedly posing as a member of Ms. Jolie's team." Since the initial report, the story - successfully deleted from its website after that - has not been mentioned by the show. The mystery of who was sending the email fit perfectly into the world of celebrity gossip, in which rumor and third hand sources coalesce into "facts" at the speed of the Internet. Even before the "Entertainment Tonight" report, there were international rumors of the twins' birth, possibly started by an OK! magazine story that did not report the babies were born, but speculated on possible names! Sharlette Hambrick, an Entertainment Tonight producer, told the show that she had obtained a Blackberry e-mail address for Groline from a contact at CNN, according to the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Hambrick had sent a message to the Blackberry address asking for confirmation of these report of Jolie's having given birth, according to e-mails provided to Associated Press by the show. The reply came back! It said, "Yes she did. I was actually in the room with her. They are doing fine and so is mom." Sex was not mentioned, though. On the other hand, one person with knowledge of the exchange stated, "Groline never had a Blackberry account!" Soon after the publishing of the story in Entertainment Tonight, Groline informed Hambrick of the fact that Hambrick had been dealing with an imposter, mistaken to be herself, the same person reported. Emails obtained by Associated Press show that Hambrick sent a message to Groline's real e-mail address showing the exchange with the impostor, asking "Are you saying this is now not your e-mail address? That you did not send me these e-mails?" Groline responded: "This is not my e-mail."