The paydays for celebrity moms selling tabloids exclusive rights to photos of their new babies has gotten quite lucrative. Christina Aguilera bagged a reported $1.5 million, JLo got a whopping $6 million, and A-Lister+ Angelina Jolie’s rumored twins will earn the actress up to an estimated $8-10 million. Back in 1989, Lisa Marie Presley’s baby got what was considered then a hefty $100,000 for first pics. Now insiders say having babies has become a go-to second line of income for famous women.
One magazine editor who asked to remain anonymous said, “It’s at the point now where some stars might decide to have more kids just to collect the money from their photos.”
Pregnant stars are now “treating this like a game,” said National Enquirer Executive Editor Barry Levine.
“It’s become big business now,” Levine said. “It’s outrageous, they’ve gotten very sophisticated. The rights are bought up now even before the celeb enters the hospital. They hire extra security so it’s impossible to obtain a photo illegally.”
Levine said stars now realize that having a child is “akin to getting a role in a movie.”
Many people worry about whether they can afford to have a child. For high profile celebrities their babies come into the world with a built in trust fund.
Unlike Jessica Alba and Christina Aguilera, Nicole Richie is not embracing her new big breasts. Nicole complained to OK! Magazine that she doesn’t like having big boobs, because she thinks it’s slutty. She said, “I am bustier now and I really don’t like it. It doesn’t really fit with my wardrobe, it’s not who I am. I am not someone who is used to wearing a bra or having to wear a bra. I really don’t like it.”
“I like wearing vintage hippy see-through shirts that aren’t slutty on me because there is nothing to look at. Now I have boobs so I can’t really wear it because it sends out a different message.”
Nicole, it will go away, embrace them and love them while you can. In the meantime Nicole had a thing or two to learn about how to breastfeed when she fed her daughter for the first time. “They put her right on my chest after the birth and I breastfed her. I didn’t know anything about breastfeeding so I fed her for about 35 minutes on one side. The doctor was like, ‘You should probably switch sides.’”
And Nicole has also has some new bragging rights. Richie’s People magazine cover has outsold Christina Aguilera’s People cover. MSNBC’s The Scoop reports that Nicole and baby Harlow is on track to sell around 1.8 million copies. Christina and Max didn’t even come close to that only managing 1.3 million last month. A source said that Christina never does well on covers.
They went on to say that people are intrigued by Nicole. “There’s also a greater element of curiosity with Nicole. She’s gone public about being a heroin addict. Her boyfriend is covered in tattoos. By default, she’s got the more interesting baby. People want to see how she settles down. They want to see what kind of baby someone with her background has.”
Christina Aguilera, made her first television appearance since the birth of son Max Liron, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Christina chatted with Ellen about motherhood, her new house, naked Sundays with husband Jordan Bratman, the baby Briss, the People Magazine baby photos and answers the question of whether or not she is nursing. What do you think? Speaking of The People magazine cover with Christina Aguilera and her son, Max, the issue is expected to sell 1.3 million copies. The average weekly sales for People, though, is 1.4 million. The mag likely doesn’t see the underperformance as a loss, even though they paid close to $2 million for the baby pics.
“They probably do it to keep someone else from getting their hands on it and to preserve their reputation that they always get the best on weddings and babies,” says an industry insider. It will be interesting to see how the Nicole Richie baby pictures do!
Hollywood moms and dads know where the real money’s at, their newborns. People Magazine recently won the Christina Aguilera baby bidding, reportedly getting paid $2 million for the baby pics of her new son Max.
And Nicole Richie? People reportedly placed a winning bid of $1 million on their daughter Harlow. Jamie Lynn Spears’ baby isn’t even born yet, but the 16-year-old TV star was reportedly paid $1 million by OK!
Don’t expect the famous and fertile to slash prices. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s, baby Shiloh is still the reigning queen of cover kids, with People forking over $4.1 million to run the girl on a June 2006 cover. And if Angeline & Brad are indeed having twins? Priceless! But until then watch out for JLo and Mark. The about-to-pop pop diva, 38, and hubby Marc Anthony, 39, will rake in between $4 million and $6 million for exclusive rights to the first pictures of their expected twins, Ad Age reports today.
Once again the buyer is supposedly People Magazine. So far People Magazine and Jennifer’s reps, denied to Ad Age that any deal for U.S. rights for the pics has been finalized. The asking price will be split with OK! magazine, which will pay for the international rights for its editions around the world. It’s kind of disgusting that celeb’s pimp their kids like this, hopefully the money goes to charity but I doubt it.
Christina Aguilera decided not to try for a natural child birth to baby Max because she was too scared and didn’t want to go through the pain. Instead she decided to schedule a no-matter-what happens, Cesarean section.
“I didn’t want any surprises,” she told People mag of the supposed last minute decision to go under the knife to have Max Liron Bratman.
“I’d heard horror stories about [vaginal] tearing. I had heard horror stories of women going in and having to have an emergency C-section [anyway]. The hardest part was deciding on his birthday. I wanted to leave it up to fate, but at the same time I was ready to be done early!”
“Jordan wasn’t squeamish at all. He had the video camera ready to go. The most reassuring thing for me was hearing that first beautiful cry. I just welled up with tears.”
On choosing the birthday date, you can bet there was no way her baby was going to be born on the same day as Nicole Ritchie’s. On choosing a scar on her belly, rather then vaginal tears? Priceless!
Update: Time Inc. on behalf of People Magazine gave us notice, they were not happy with us for having the cover shot on our site (since they likely paid a fortune for the rights to the photo.) So we have taken it down.
So it looks like People Magazine won the Christina Aguilera first baby pictures auction. Aguilera & Baby Max are on their latest cover. Max is actually a good looking baby. Notice that nursery on the bottom left of the cover? Looks as big as the house I grew up in.
Today’s GateCrasher teaser “Don’t Shoot The Messenger” gave me pause. It said: “Which recent mom is already bored with her new accessory? Despite pimping herself out to the celebrity mags as a loving parent, she is constantly finding reasons to leave the baby and “escape.”
It made me think of Christina for a split second but on further review it’s been Nicole Richie who is been out partying the last few days. So Nicole would be my guess. Just saying.
With swelling um pride, Christina Aguilera made her first public appearance since delivering son Max, to promote the release of her new DVD. The pop star signed copies of her “Back To Basics: Live And Down Under” DVD set for fans at Best Buy West Hollywood. In a radio interview prior to the appearance with Ryan Seacrest, she gushed about her “incredible” son and said she is already inspired to write a new album. Aguilera also told Seacrest, she and husband Jordan Bratman are reveling in parenthood: “It’s still the first couple of weeks, every week something new happens.
“It’s constant changing and he’s constantly changing and doing these incredibly cute things - and stinky things.”
Christina Aguilera’s negotations with OK! Magazine for the exclusive picture rights of her new baby, Max have reportedly fallen through. The deal reportedly fell through, because the magazine wouldn’t guarantee a full cover spread. OK! previously published Aguilera’s wedding pictures and they didn’t sell so well. Neither did her Marie Claire cover.
A source said, “Christina has an inflated sense of her own value and seems to expect an extortionate amount of money for these baby pictures. I’m not sure OK! or much of the industry thinks is a dollar figure that’s worth it. … She hasn’t proven to be a real seller.”
The source also claims that Aguilera is also demanding that any magazine running Max’s photos may not run photos of Nicole Richie’s new baby. “Christina can’t stand Nicole,” said a source who knows Aguilera. “Nothing would make her more upset than to see those two babies on the same cover, even if it wasn’t at the same time.”
The source also said that Max isn’t really ready for “primetime,” whatever that means?
Bottomline is, don’t expect to see a photo of Christina Aguilera’s baby on the cover of any magazines this week.
The paydays for celebrity moms selling tabloids exclusive rights to photos of their new babies has gotten quite lucrative. Christina Aguilera bagged a reported $1.5 million, JLo got a whopping $6 million, and A-Lister+ Angelina Jolie’s rumored twins will earn the actress up to an estimated $8-10 million. Back in 1989, Lisa Marie Presley’s baby got what was considered then a hefty $100,000 for first pics. Now insiders say having babies has become a go-to second line of income for famous women.
Hollywood moms and dads know where the real money’s at, their newborns.
Christina Aguilera’s negotations with OK! Magazine for the exclusive picture rights of her new baby, Max have reportedly fallen through. The deal reportedly fell through, because the magazine wouldn’t guarantee a full cover spread. OK! previously published Aguilera’s wedding pictures and they didn’t sell so well. Neither did her Marie Claire cover. 
