Brangelina's $4 Million Baby
June 7, 2006 — -- It's long been thought that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn daughter would be the first $1 million baby.
People magazine reportedly paid more than $4 million for the first images of Shiloh Nouvel.
The couple chose the agency that took the photos. The images, taken at a private photo shoot, will be distributed by Getty Images, the photo agency said Monday, and all the profits will go to a charity. A specific charity has not been publicly named.
"The photos were sent to our offices in New York and London, and customers were invited in to view the photos on site and make decisions about whether they wished to bid for them," said Jonathan Klein, Getty's CEO.
However, the Web beat People to the punch in publishing at least one photo. As People magazine announced it had landed exclusive North American rights to the first pictures, an image of the newborn and her parents appeared on at least two Web sites as the cover shot for Hello!
"We were very shocked and horrified to see that this embargo has been breached," Juliet Herd, feature editor for Hello! magazine, told Reuters.
"Hello! [which sells in Britain; Spain; Turkey; Russia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Thailand; and Greece] is taking legal action around the world to stop Internet sites, and everyone else who may seek to publish. We are sending out legal 'Cease and Desist' letters to each of these sites," Herd said.
The Money Shot
Celebrity photos, from babies and breakups, to weddings and wild flings, have long generated huge price tags.
Last year, Julia Roberts and her photographer husband, Danny Moder, sold a family photo to People for a reported $150,000. The money was donated to an environmental group.
The first photo of Britney Spears' baby captured $500,000. The proceeds were given to a Hurricane Katrina charity.
A photo of Apple, the daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, sold for $125,000.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas sold the first photo from their wedding for more than $1.6 million.
The most profitable paparazzi photos to date are of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed 10 days before they died. The photos made more than $500,000.
The photo of presidential front-runner Gary Hart with then-mistress Donna Rice perched in his lap went for $75,000. The famous 1977 photo of Elvis in his coffin was bought by The National Enquirer for $18,000.
Whatever happens, experts say the magazine that publishes the images of baby Shiloh is in for a good day at the newsstand.
"That baby is going to sell a lot of copies," said Debra Birnbaum, editor in chief of Life and Style Weekly.