Pitt takes on poverty and AIDS in Africa

Brad Pitt is taking on poverty and Aids in Africa - and the tabloids. In an hour-long television special, Pitt has talked to Diane Sawyer about the humanitarian crisis in Africa.

"I can't get out of the press. These people can't get in the press. So let's redirect the attention a little bit," he told Sawyer. "We have the potential to end poverty [in Africa] in our time ... Man - I mean, what is more exciting than that? The potential's there. We gotta go for it."

Pitt separated from Jennifer Aniston in January after 4 1/2 years of marriage. Aniston, 36, filed for divorce in March, citing irreconcilable differences.

Pitt calls tabloid speculation that his Mr and Mrs Smith co-star Angelina Jolie played a role in the breakup of his marriage "a good story".

Says Sawyer: "But that's painful, too."

"Yeah, well, listen, let me speak from my experience," he says. "You know, I've been in these tabloids for 14 years now. And at some point you become a Zen master of it all."