A Paparazzi Payday On VF's Dime

Magazine insiders say Vanity Fair is cracking down on staff securityafter its latest issue fell into the hands of notorious paparazzo PhilRamey, allowing the sleazy lensman to shop around unreleased copies ofits Jennifer Aniston cover to the highest bidder.

“Someone at Vanity Fair must have slipped an advance copy toRamey, because he had the whole magazine and sent scans of all the Aniston pagesto anyone who would pay,” says our source.

While most tabs passed on the Leslie Bennetts exclusive, wehear other rags, like Life & Style and the British tabloid theSun, couldn’t wait to get their hands on Aniston’s firstwords about her awkward, very public split from BradPitt—and paid thousands of dollars for the story just days beforethe mag’s official Monday, Aug. 1 press release date.

“It’s a nightmare in the office,” says one VFstaffer. “No one knows how this man got a copy of the magazine or how thisall leaked so fast. We had a harder time keeping this under wraps than DeepThroat!”

When reached for comment, VF spokeswoman BethKseniak denied any prior knowledge of the leak, saying, “This isthe first time anyone, including the managing editor, has heard of this PhilRamey incident.” Ironically, Ramey was profiled in the March 2003 issue ofVF in a story about the paparazzi that credited him with going todaredevil lengths to get his money shots.