Desperate representatives of world media didn’t get a chance to hear a word from Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt about his freshly announced breakup with Jen Ansiton as they were barred from the news conference held by Pitt and George Clooney in Japan.

The stars arrived in Japan on Wednesday to promote their crime caper movie Ocean’s Twelve. Pitt appeared in a beige overcoat, red scarf and black gloves- speculated as a way to conceal whether he had a wedding ring on. The request to shut out foreign media had come from Pitt’s publicists in the U.S. According to Japan Today, before the press conference at Roppongi Hills, all attending Japanese media personnel had to sign a pledge not to write for any publication other than the one they were representing. It was also pointed out that questions about the stars’ private lives were forbidden. It wasn’t clear why the international media were not allowed at the event, but suppositions were that the foreign press can be rude and too direct while the Japanese are polite.

One of the world’s most glamorous couples announced their split on Friday, calling it “the result of much thoughtful consideration” rather than “the result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media”.