The sky is the limit when it comes to how much money celebrities are being paid to pimp out their babies in celebrity news and gossip magazines nowadays.
After paying Christina Aguilera $1.5 million in February for shots of her newborn son, Max, People shelled out a whopping $6 million to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony for photos of their newborn twins, Max and Emme.
One celebrity news 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 celebrities 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 celebrity enters the hospital. They hire extra security so it’s impossible to obtain a photo illegally.”
Brangelina made (then gave away) millions from selling photos of Shiloh.
Levine said stars now realize that having a child in this celebrity news media era is “akin to getting a role in a movie.”
Celebrity gossip publications don’t mind - they recoup money over time with magazine sales, Web hits, and by re-selling the photos overseas.
Angelina Jolie, rumored to be carrying twins, could trump all celebrities by commanding $10 million for the first photos of the babies, Levine said.
“That’s where the market is right now,” he said. “When I was the editor of Star in L.A., we bought photos of Lisa Marie Presley’s baby back in 1989 for $100,000, and at the time I thought it was outrageous. Now it’s chump change.”
American Media Editorial Director Bonnie Fuller said that the celebrity baby photo payouts just keep escalating: “If J.Lo really did get $6 million, then I think Angelina can now command $8 million,” Fuller said. “The magazines must look at it as a long-term investment, but I think it’ll cap out at a certain point.”
