Back in May, one of our sources joked that the only way Star could abort its Demi Moore pregnancy crusade would be to drum up a miscarriage. Turns out they may have been right. Sources say Star was set to do a follow-up on sister pub the National Enquirer's "scoop" about the actress’s tragic “baby loss"--but pulled the piece at the last minute after the New York Daily News questioned whether Moore had ever been pregnant to begin with. The column, written by Ben Widdicombe, noted that while the Enquirer claimed Moore had miscarried in early June, Star continued to print that she was pregnant two weeks later.

“Star was going to follow up the Enquirer ‘exclusive’ with its own story claiming Demi had given premature birth to a stillborn five-month-old boy over Memorial Day weekend,” says a tabloid whistle-blower, who slipped us a copy of the killed spread, slated for the August 15 issue on stands last week.

Though Moore and supposed baby daddy Ashton Kutcher have fervently denied she was ever pregnant, Star's somber three-page article praises them for “carry[ing] on” in the face of their alleged miscarriage and speculates that the tragedy could either “bring them together or pull them apart.” To ease the grief of America’s supermarket shoppers, the story has the couple recovering from the nonexistent blow by spending “several weeks in seclusion, healing as a twosome.” The caption on a photo of Kutcher, Moore and her three daughters adds bittersweet reassurance that “Ashton can still be a ‘dad.’”

“The layout was done on Friday,” says our insider. But it was spiked shortly after the Daily News item appeared. "Suddenly last Monday, the story was pulled. No one would say why. It just disappeared," says the source.

An AMI spokesman says the tabloid stands by the story, and insists the only reason it was killed was because it was inconsistent with Star's kinder, gentler editorial policy

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