Tres Jolie

Ever since Angelina Jolie got hitched to her ''Pushing Tin'' costar Billy Bob Thornton last month, the tabloids have been in scandal-spewing overdrive with tales that the union is on the rocks. Not so, says the still blissful actress, who is choosing to laugh off the more outrageous claims. ''There was recently a tabloid story that said I had stabbed Billy and had to be sent to a nuthouse or something,'' says the 25 year old actress, whose new movie, ''Gone in 60 Seconds,'' is new in theaters. ''We thought that was pretty funny. I mean, if I wanted to kill him, I'd kill him.''

Jolie says that she and Thornton, 44, were braced for a skeptical reaction to their whirlwind romance. Yet she admits the rumors can still sting. Particularly painful, she says, were reports that she had dumped Thornton for her ''Dancing in the Dark'' costar Antonio Banderas. ''Reading things about Billy Bob and me is always going to hurt,'' says Jolie. ''It's strange to me that reporters don't think the beautiful things in my life are worth mentioning.''

Jolie feels the media have also distorted the details of the couple's quickie Vegas wedding, implying that the dressed-down affair was a flight of fancy for the actors. Both bride and groom had been to the altar before: It was Thornton's fifth marriage, while Jolie was previously wed to actor Jonny Lee Miller. ''We were casually dressed not because we didn't take it seriously, but because it was just about us in our regular clothes, looking at each other and saying 'this is it for life,''' says Jolie, who wore blue jeans for the ceremony. ''But maybe it's just not interesting to reporters that I have only been with a few people in my life yet I am completely, madly, obsessed sexually with just my husband and that I love him.''

Well, maybe not as interesting as the incest rumors that sprang from her tearful tribute to her Oscar date, brother Jamie Haven. Jolie flatly denies any ''more than brotherly'' love, but has no regrets about opening her heart as millions, including their father, Jon Voight, watched. ''My parents really loved that moment, and that's what will always matter,'' she says.

Despite the tabloid feeding frenzy, Jolie has no plans to change her style to slow the rumor mill, which will undoubtedly go into high gear with the release of her next film: She'll play action heroine Lara Croft in an adaptation of the computer game Tomb Raider (shooting begins in July). ''There probably will always be stuff written about me because I will continue to be really honest,'' she says. ''I'll fall on my face in front of all of you and make mistakes and be screwed up and hurt and seem strange and be really happy. I'll do it in front of everybody, because I think acting is sharing and expressing things. I just hope that people can see through all this other stuff.''