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Poor Jennifer Aniston. After mustering up the courage to show up to a pre-Oscars party where she was supposed to finally come face-to-face with her man-stealing rival Angelina Jolie, the rug got swept out from under her when Jolie failed to show up for the event. But the glossies seem to be getting the angle all wrong. While Us paints Aniston as the victim (their hed: "Angelina Jolie continues to keep the power over Jennifer Aniston"), we have to disagree with their hypothesis. The tabs have relentlessly portrayed Aniston as a helpless single gal who can't catch a break, but the sheer fact that she dared show her face proves once and for all that Jen finally grew a pair. After all, for all Jolie's pre-show talk, when the time came for long-hyped matchup to go down, Angie couldn't walk the walk.

Us quotes a source as saying Aniston considered the evening "the perfect chance [for closure.] She said the stress of having to avoid them was more painful than seeing them." Which is admittedly far more mature than our usual avoid-exes-at-all-costs method. So there was Jen, beaming and ready for Angie's promised make-up, knowing fully well that her enormous belly had made a jaw-dropping cameo at the Independent Spirit Awards, but the future mother of seven couldn't show her face. That's "power"? Sounds more like cowardice to us.