LolaCola- I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree as far as Brad being a hypocrite. However, your explanation of what exploiting means DOES make a lot of sense.

I have always thought of exploitation as a bad thing. For example, some people say Britney Spears’ parents exploited her. Obviously Angie and Brad don’t do what the Spears’ did. However, I understand where you’re coming from now that you explained the definition.

CelebBabyLover, The tabloids speculate anyway . Brad and Angie are always talking about how much they love each other and the kids but there are still rumours of problems.
I’m guess you didn’t fully read my post or understand it. I did not say there was anything wrong with celebs talking about their kids. I was calling Brad a hypocrite for saying one thing and doing another. He said he doesn’t like talking to the media about his kids but he does it anyway ALL THE TIME.
And guess what the paps are going to take pics anyway. I understand their reasoning but I hate it when they [celebs, and their fans] make it seem like they have no choice. *Exploit- to make full use of and derive benefit from. Brad and Angie took full use of the public interest in their kids and used it to benefit poor children in various countries, i.e. they exploited them. I’m not saying it is bad or good but that is what they did.

*From online dictionary

LolaCola- I almost forgot: In regards to Angie and Brad “exploiting” their kids…They don’t. If they wanted to exploit their kids, they could take them to movie premires, promotions for their movies, and constantly sell pictures of them to magazines for no reason.

They do not do any of that. Without the newborn (and new adoption, in the case of Pax) photoshoots, it sadly would probably literally not have been safe to take Shiloh or the twins (or possibly even Pax) out. See my posts about three and four posts up for further explanation.

As for the W photoshoot, like other commentors have said, that was mostly of Angie. The kids appear in one shot each, and that’s, as another commentor put it, “Incidental”, because the photoshoot was supposed to portray one week of Angie’s life.

Obviously the kids are a big part of her life! The breastfeeding photo doesn’t even show much. All you can see is some cute little baby fingers poking out.

Finally, I keep forgetting to mention that perhaps Angie and Brad want to show pictures of their family on THEIR terms rather than the paps!

LolaCola- If they said “no comment” to every question about the kids, people would probably start speculating that they were having problems at home or criticze them for refusing to answer those questions (look at what happened when they refused to talk about their relationship when they were first rumored to be together!).

Also, do you have kids? If you do, I’m guessing you enjoy gushing about them and going on and on about them (to the point of annoying people at times. What parent hasn’t had someone get the them “Enough already!” look when they are going on and on about their kids).

Why should Brad be any different? Why shouldn’t he be allowed to be a proud papa and talk about his kids?

Cestomi- No, I don’t personally know the Jolie-Pitts. I do, however, read their interviews and articles about them in legimite media sources (such as PEOPLE magazine).

As for why I defend them with such long posts? Well, part of it is to get my point across, of course, but a big part of it is simply that I LOVE writing, so I sometimes get a bit carried away!

CelebBabyLover,

I’m curious…Do you personally know the Jolie-Pitts? I only ask because you always talk about them as if you just had lunch with them at their house in France, and you’re always defending them with 10 paragraph responses. Just wondering. Thanks!

What I found hypocritical was when Pitt said he hated talking about his kids to the media because it almost cheapens his love for them. But then he keeps going on and on about them. However, it is not only Pitt to blame but the media why do they keep asking them the same questions: “Are you going to have more kids”, “What’s it like having six kids”, ” What the best part about being a father/mother”. It is rather annoying because not only is it the same questions but the same answers. Brad and Angie don’t have to tell the press they’re not going to answer any questions about their family all they have to do is say “no comment” they did it for several months when they were rumored to be together.
Are Brad and Angie exploiting their children, YES, but they are doing it for charity, and I don’t know if that is better or worse.

Amelia- Halle was able to go out and have the paps get the first photos of Nahla because she could get away with it. The Jolie-Pitts really can’t.

Halle is not nearly as famous as the J-Ps, plus her boyfriend isn’t really famous (Gabriel is a model, but I don’t think he’s all that famous. I could be wrong, though). With Angie and Brad, they are BOTH famous, and both EQUALLY famous, PLUS they are two of the biggest stars in Hollywood, so naturally the paps are going to be much more interested in their family than in Halle’s family.

I’m sorry to get dramatic here, but Angie and Brad had gone out with the twins or with Shiloh (or even possibly with Pax) without doing a photoshoot first, the sad fact is that it very likely literally would not be safe, and someone could have even ended up hurt.

I mean, look at the lengths the paps went to get the first photos of Knox and Viv. Some of them (disquised in cameo gear) broke into the J-Ps property just to try to get the first photos of the twins! Not only that, but even though the twins weren’t around (they were presumably inside napping), the paps took pictures of the rest of the kids (who were playing outside), including one of Pax (who was playing in a pond) stark naked!

From what I’ve heard, Brad actually had to threaten to sue if any of the photos the paps took were published anywhere just to get the paps to stop taking pictures.

Angie also mentioned recently that the paps tried to drill a hole through the ceiling of her hospital room to get photos of the twins (either that or the J-Ps caught wind of the paps planning to do so. It was unclear which she was referring to.).

If I were a celeb and people were doing things like that (which are both dangerous AND illegal!) in order to get pictures of my new babies, you can bet I’d sell their first photos to a reputable magazine like PEOPLE!

I also want to point out that Angie said in one of her recent interviews that she thinks the amount of money paid for the twins’ first photos is “a ridiculious amount”. In otherwords, it seems as though the J-Ps themselves don’t think people (no pun intended!) should be paying that much money for baby photos.

Casey and ana- ITA! Like ana said, Gwyneth, Naomi, Reese (who also, BTW, sold pictures of her kids when they were babies), and Nicole all talk about their children in interviews, just like Brad and Angie do.

I mean, take Nicole for example. Over the past few weeks, we have seen her talking about Sunday quite a bit while promoting her new movie.

The fact is that Nicole and the other celebs mentioned above are able to keep their families more private because the media and the general public aren’t as interested in them.

And just because you don’t do a photoshoot doesn’t mean the paps won’t hound you. Look at the Afflecks, for example. They’ve never done a photoshoot with Violet, and yet she is one of the most photographed celeb children on the planet!

Also, one cannot really compare Nicole, Naomi, etc. to Brad and Angie, as they don’t get nearly the media attention that Brad and Angie do. The only celeb family that even comes close to the J-Ps in terms of how hounded by the paps and the media they get is the Holmes-Cruises.

I agree that it is hypocritical for Brad to complain when he and Angelina feed the frenzy. They can always stop the questions about their family. How come they can stop questions about Jen? Then the W shoot, if there is a bounty on your child, then do it like Halle Berry and just go out in public with the child. Brad and Angelina bid over pictures of their children. I understand helping charity but this over exposure harms rather than protects them. And even if you are taking private pictures because you do not want to leave your home, why breast feeding pictures and controversial semi nude ones to increase the frenzy? Besides, if they did not want to go anywhere, they would have taken the pictures at home. Tom Cruise has a movie coming out, yet there are not shoots with Suri. You cannot use your children to promote a movie. Once you start exploiting your children, others think it is OK to do so.

sigh
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because they don’t like brad and angelina. They are sitting here calling him a hypocrite when they are one themselves. GMAFB and get over it. if you don’t like them stay of their threads no one is forcing you to read anything he says. Telling him not to talk about his family, like who the hell are you? reese witherspoon talks a lot about how much she doesn’t like the paps, michelle willams talks about how she actually hates them yet I don’t see y’all on their threads. It’s because you don’t like this particular person, it’s so transparent. I think you’all need to read up on this site and what it’s actually about.

This comment probably won’t get posted but I feel better venting now. freaking ridiculous.