After being hounded for taking over a hospital to have her baby, Beyoncé refused to pimp out the first pictures of her bundle of joy to the highest bidder. She and her husband Jay-Z posted photos of their one-month-old daughter on a free blogging and social networking site called Tumblr instead of pocketing extra cash for their piggy bank.
"In a world where most celebrities sell their baby pics to major magazines and tabloids, this was a shocking move on Beyonce and Jay-Z's behalf," wrote a blogger from Hollywood Life.
The new Tumblr site shows five pictures of Blue Ivy Carter, who was born in New York on January 7 amidst a hullabaloo about other new parents being barred from visiting their babies in the hospital's nursery.
Atop the photo-filled Tumblr page was a brief note (were we to infer it was penned by Beyoncé's own blue-polished manicured fingers?) that read: "We welcome you to share our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this time in our lives. The Carter Family."
As if.
Part of the deal of being a celebrity -- and raking in more revenue than the entire state of Rhode Island -- is that paparazzi will follow you everywhere. Fans will demand to know every droll detail about you and your family, including what kind of kibbles you feed your dog. That's why it's a big coup when a photographer snaps a picture of Jessica Alba shopping at Whole Foods or Brad Pitt chauffeuring his pouty-lipped wife and children to a restaurant.
So for Beyonce to even suggest she can have privacy in return for posting a few photos of her new kid is naïve, if not nervy. Still, it's a refreshing change from the habit of certain celebs who auctioned their babies' first pictures to popular magazines.
Organic veggie-eating Alba and her husband Cash Warren, for instance, netted big bucks selling the first baby pictures of baby Honor to OK! magazine for an alleged $1.5 million. "For our family, we just wanted to control the experience. We put the money that the picture made into a bank account for Honor to do whatever she wants to do with," Alba explained, as if the million-plus will be mere pin money for their advantaged offspring.
Angelina Jolie and and her Hollywood honey sold pictures of their precious twin bundle to People and Hello! magazines for a cool $14 million -- more than twice what Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony got for their darling duo. The Jolie-Pitts donated the money to their charitable foundation which focuses on helping disadvantaged children in Darfur and other troubled parts of the world.
Pitt told NPR that he preferred to plan the sale of the photos instead of being pestered by paparazzi. "We have to plan an escape every day just to get out of the house -- kind of a Mission Impossible with decoys," he said. "But we knew there was a bounty on our head, and we know the lengths they go to to get that shot. So we figured, 'Let's cut it off in the beginning,' and instead of that money going to people I do not respect, we would make some good out of it."
The "Moneyball" actor's explanation almost made Beyoncé and Jay-Z look like bad global citizens for not using their child's first photo op as a charitable fund raiser. But the public did not see it that way.
No sooner were the photos published on Tumblr than "Blue Ivy" became a trending topic on Twitter, with tweeters chirping their approval that the pictures were posted on the web for the whole world to see.
Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Join the Yahoo! Contributor Network here to start publishing your own articles.
3 comments