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As celebrity parents Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt await the birth of their twins, the media battles over their baby photos.

Posted June 3, 2008 by Tommi Lewis Tilden with additional reporting by Lisa Weseman

As the world awaits the birth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's twins, two major mags are reportedly duking it out over the baby pics. According to TMZ, People and OK! are in a fierce bidding war over the photos that has hit an incredible $15 million!

It's not the first time People has ponied up for celebrity baby shots -- they reportedly paid a whopping $6 million to Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony for Emme and Max’s recent cover photograph, and forked over $2 million for a recent mother/baby cover of Christina Aguilera and son Max.  Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are said to have nabbed a cool $1 million for their daughter Harlow's cover. (And, further proof that in this country you can be more famous for doing nothing than something, Richie’s cover sold better than Xtina's!)

In June 2006, Brad and Angelina's first baby, Shiloh, brought in a reported $4.1 million and the ever-benevolent couple promptly signed the check over to a variety of African children’s charities including UNICEF. As a source close to Jolie told the press in 2006, “They figured they might as well use the opportunity of one child being born to help alot of others."

To put into perspective how far we’ve come with clamoring for celeb baby info, think about this: in 2005, Julia Roberts and Danny Moder sold photos of their 3-month-old twins for a reported $150,000 (that money went to an environmental charity). That same year, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s Apple commanded a mere $100,000 and People reportedly paid only $500,000 for pics of Britney Spears’ son Sean Preston Federline.

It's clear why magazines are willing to fork over that kind of cash -- the New York Times recently reported that Shiloh's cover helped People sell 800,000 more copies than usual, and J-Lo's recent baby photos helped People.com get 4 million page views in a single day.

The bigger question is why celeb parents make deals with the tabloid devils by negotiating these photo ops. It’s because they know that eventually pictures will be snapped and they want the upper hand:

• By brokering their own deals, the stars effectively drive down the value -- and the inevitable chase for the first pics -- from pesky paparazzi.

• By agreeing to a photo shoot, they get to ensure that they will look good in the pictures -- something that can never be guaranteed with paparazzi shots.

• By donating the money to a cause, they come off smelling like a rose and the charity benefits, too.

Case in point: Sheryl Crow. Her spokesperson said that after paparazzi hounded her and trespassed on her property to get photos of her newly-adopted son Wyatt, she relented and let OK! do a photo shoot in exchange for a $500,000 donation to the World Food Program.

Even so, some celebrity parents prefer to just bite the bullet and get it over with. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick allowed the frenzied press to photograph baby James Wilkie as they left the hospital. The paps got what they wanted, the photos’ value instantly diminished, and the happy couple was left in relative peace to bond with their newborn.

But in a recent interview with ABC News' Deborah Roberts, Sarah Jessica revealed the decision was not as easy as it appeared at the time: "Photographers moved into apartments next door to us, and we really found ourselves kind of living like a spy movie. We really tried to think about what was going to be best for us leaving the hospital and also what didn't involve money."

Over the years, she says the constant media attention has made James shy around cameras -- even for family events or school pictures. "It makes him not particularly inclined to take family photos because he has a relationship with the camera that's antagonistic. He hides. His class pictures for two years have been this [Parker covers her face]. And I think it's a shame for him."

Tell Us: How would you handle the baby picture situation if you were famous -- the Sarah Jessica way or the Angie way? What magazine would you sell them to and what would you do with the money?  Click the link below and share your thoughts!