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He may be a jetsetting superstar with luxury homes in New Orleans, Berlin and the South of France, but Brad Pitt might also have a soft spot for a tiny bay in Northland.
Janice McCulloch, who runs a mobile coffee truck in Rawene, said she discovered Pitt was a regular visitor after meeting him just before Christmas 2007.
"He pulled up in a campervan that had dark-tinted windows.
"He had two bodyguards with him and he came up and asked for a coffee," she said.
"He was wearing a beanie hat and had a beard on that was sitting about an inch away from his face so I asked him if he was in disguise.
"At first he said no and I didn't realise he was famous, but then he took the beard off and I definitely knew it was him."
McCulloch said Pitt ordered two coffees for $4 each and paid with a $10 note, leaving her a $2 tip.
"He stood there and started drinking it and said it was pretty good. We had a bit of a conversation, he said he had been surfing up at Shipwreck Bay near Ahipara [southwest of Kaitaia].
"He told me he goes there whenever he can after he visited once years ago."
McCulloch said she told Pitt she recognised him from women's magazines she read when the coffee truck was quiet.
"He said, 'don't believe everything you read'. He also told me he was thinking about bringing his family here, but I haven't seen him since."
McCulloch said she had also served Ozzy Osbourne, who "didn't look like he was topped up on anything" and was "quite a nice person", and Coronation Street actor Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fizz Brown.
"She was absolutely beautiful, she doesn't look like she does on Coro. Her hair was straight and she was a lot slimmer than you see her on television."
Other Rawene locals had no reason to doubt McCulloch's story. "If Jan says it happened then it happened," said one.
