Celebs, Magazines Ready to Make a Baby-Picture Deal

Feb. 28, 2008 — -- Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are home from the hospital with their newborn twins, and chances are you'll be seeing them on the cover of People magazine.

Managing editor Larry Hackett is "confident" his magazine will be showcasing the infants, born Feb. 22. "We're the biggest, we've been around the longest, we're the top in our field," he says. "If someone of equal wattage has been there, they (celebrities) want to be there too."

And plenty of wattage has come before: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears and Gwyneth Paltrow, to name just a few.

But People isn't the only game in town. Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise revealed daughter Suri on the cover of Vanity Fair, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale picked OK! to showcase son Kingston, and Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott's son, Liam, was featured in Us Weekly.

"In the old days, there was just People magazine and the tabloids," Hackett says. "There's simply more and more celebrity media."

So celebs have more and more options. Publications sometimes compete, resulting in photos going for large sums, money that sometimes goes to charity, sometimes not.

"Celebrities are in the business of making money," says Janice Min, editor of Us Weekly. "They have their image, which they use to make money on almost every aspect of their life. … This is just another revenue stream for them."

Even before the Lopez-Anthony twins were born, reports surfaced of offers for photos in the $4 million to $6 million range.

Hackett won't discuss actual figures but says, "These numbers are grossly inaccurate" and often "come from competitors who wanted the pictures and didn't get them. You can almost set your watch to 'I heard you paid …' "

For Christina Aguilera and son Max, the figure that popped up was $1.5 million, and People was scrutinized in reports that said the issue, dated Feb. 25, undersold. Hackett counters: "I am thrilled with Christina. It was a solid performer and not under expectations. I would buy Christina's pictures again in a second."