'Us Weekly' Defends Aniston/Vaughn Engagement Story

When the rumors of Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn's engagement came out, it was, as always, instantly denied by Aniston's publicist, Stephen Huvane. Then again, as the "couple" will not admit to being together, Huvane has been forced to deny a lot of rumors. Now, Us Weekly, the magazine that broke the exclusive, is claiming they are right, and Huvane is covering up for the couple, or is misinformed.

Us Weekly broke the story with a tease of the article coming out in next week's edition of the magazine, along with a cover that reads "Vince Proposes!" This was immediately met by a denial from Huvane, who said "It's just not true. Their report is erroneous. They are not engaged."

Us Weekly executive editor, Ken Baker, wasn't prepared to let that be the last word on the subject. Baker went on Access Hollywood last night to defend his publication. Baker said "You're only as good as your sources and I would just ask him to check his sources. They are engaged, they are getting married and they are as happy as they've ever been."

ABC News quoted another spokesperson from Us Weekly as saying "We stand by our report."

The Us weekly website reports that on June 27th, the couple came back to L.A. from Joe Francis' (the Girls Gone Wild founder) $25 million coastal resort near Puerto Vallarta. While the A-list couple were on board a private Gulfstream jet, Vince went down on bended knee to pop the question.

Us Weekly's source described the details. "He was going to propose on the beach during the trip, but he chickened out because he wasn't sure if she would accept. But he knew he was leaving town [to film Into the Wild in South Dakota] for awhile, so he just felt he had to ask her before they landed."

However, as Life & Style magazine tells it, they reported this fact quite some time ago. Life & Style editor in chief, Debra Birnbaum, said "This is old news to us. We reported that they got engaged two months ago." Indeed, they went on to send out a mass e-mail to reporters, claiming "Life & Style Told You First!"

Birnbaum goes on to say to ABC News, " I do think it's funny that Aniston's spokesman is denying that they are engaged. I don't think that spokesmen for either one of them ever confirmed they were going out."

Mixed in all this are rumors that the couple has actually been on the outs. Star Magazine reported "Talk of marriage or engagement is complete hogwash. Vince appears to have gone distant, and Jen is looking no further than a day at a time."

"There have been rumours of an engagement, even claims they married in secret. But those stories are without foundation. Jen expected so much from this relationship but they are struggling to overcome these problems."

Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston have not come out and said they were a couple, yet. Despite rumors that Oprah Winfrey was to organize a $8 million wedding for the celebrities, Vaughn and Aniston keep their private life extremely private. The Break-Up co-stars have moved onto other projects as well. Jennifer Aniston is set to be in The Senator's Wife, Diary and Wanted, whereas Vaughn is looking like he'll be doing Old School 2.

[Additional Sources: Us Weekly, ABC News, Life & Style, Star Magazine]