The countdown is on. T-minus 40 hours or so until the world finally sets their eyes on Brangelina’s multi-million dollar twins.
According to reports, the exclusive first photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins have fetched a record breaking $14 million. The fee is being split between People magazine and British tabloid, Hello! Magazine.
You can catch a sneak peek of the pics Sunday night at 7, that’s when People says they will post a single shot of the babies on their website prior to the full spread hitting newsstands first thing Monday morning.
According to media insiders, the shots of 3-week-old Vivienne Marcheline and her twin brother Knox Leon are the most expensive celebrity pictures ever sold. It’s more than double the $6 million People paid Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony to feature their twins on the magazine’s cover. Then again, People is only footing half of the $14 million bill (or $7 million) to secure the North American rights to the sought after shots—-London-based Hello! shelled out the other half to claim worldwide rights to the baby pictures.
According to a Forbes magazine, the millions will go to a foundation created by Pitt and Jolie that largely focuses on helping underprivileged children around the world. Interestingly, the handsome couple established the charitable foundation shortly after People forked over $4 million for the U.S. rights to the first shots of their daughter Shiloh, who is now 2 years old.
In June 2006 People published six photos of Pitt, Jolie and baby Shiloh. That issue sold 2.2 million copies, and became the magazine’s most popular issue behind its 9/11 special issue, which sold more than 4 million copies. The money Jolie and Pitt raised selling Shiloh’s baby pics was divided up between several of the couple’s favorite charities including a $1 million donation to The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict to help children affected by the war in Iraq. Another $300,000 of the People payout went to support the International Rescue Committee’s relief program for Darfur refugees, according to foundation execs.
So while others try to raise money via telethons and auctions whenever Pitt and Jolie want to give their pet projects a boost they simply make more babies.