WASHINGTON: Angelina Jolie waged ‘a mean-spirited but effective campaign’ against Jennifer Aniston when Brad Pitt divorced the Friends star to be with her, according to a new book.

Titled Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the tell-all has revealed that Jolie, 34, planted press stories in 2005 that painted Aniston in a negative light.

Author Ian Halperin said that others helping the Tomb Raider star in scheming the press attack included her manager Geyer Kosinski and brother James Haven. And the stories specifically claimed that Aniston firmly prioritised her career over starting a family, which put her directly at odds with Pitt, who ached for children.

Jolie, ‘was convinced that this is the story that would resonate with all these women who saw her as a man-stealing bitch,’ Us magazine quoted Halperin as saying in the book.