The Wait Is Over: Angelina Gives Birth to a Girl

Thousands of miles from Hollywood but still within easy reach of celebrity hype, Angelina Jolie on Saturday gave birth to Brad Pitt’s daughter in Africa, Pitt’s publicist announced.

“The night of May 27, 2006, in Namibia, Africa, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed their daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt,” publicist Cindy Guagenti said in a statement.

She said no photographs and no further information were being released.

The baby’s arrival has been the subject of intense media speculation, compelling the superstar couple to decamp to Africa for privacy. It escalated Tuesday when an e-mail Pitt sent to the Cannes Film Festival said that he was unable to attend because of the baby’s “imminent arrival.”

Jolie and Pitt had major assistance in protecting their privacy: The government of Namibia refused to grant entry to reporters without the actors’ written permission.

The government arrested photographers, confiscated film, ringed the couple’s hotel on the Namibian coast with heavy security and set up large barriers on the beach to shield the family.

Jolie and Pitt were linked romantically shortly after appearing together in the 2005 movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

Jolie, 30, is a frequent visitor to Africa and serves as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Jolie has two adopted children: toddler Zahara, from Ethiopia, and 4-year-old Maddox, from Cambodia.

Pitt and actress Jennifer Aniston divorced last fall.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted,” is divorced from Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller.