The baby bump business: How celebrities' incomes sky-rocket after giving birth
Celebrities are turning into mommy moguls, using their pregnancies as a way to substantially increase their income.
In an attempt to extend their shelf life, a growing number of underemployed, or under-the-radar celebrities are using parenthood as their career Plan B.
For celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Kendra Wilkinson and Tori Spelling, their baby bumps have opened
doors for multimillion dollar product endorsements, from baby
strollers to diaper bags, new clothing lines and magazine cover deals.
Even fathers got into the act. Matthew McConaughey
received what two sources then working at OK! (who also asked not to be
identified because they were not authorized to disclose confidential
information) said was from $500,000 to $1 million to pose with his baby,
only to have things go awry when he refused to go shirtless, and
without the child’s mother, Camila Alves. “I wanted it to be like an
Athena poster,” Sarah Ivens Moffett, the founding editor of the
magazine, said in a telephone interview. “He didn’t.” (The couple
eventually appeared on the magazine’s cover, along with their 2-week-old
son, Levi, with Mr. McConaughey fully clothed.)
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Baby branding: New mum Jessica Simpson has already signed on with Weight Watchers for a post-baby campaign after extended publicity over her pregnancy
With catchphrases like 'mommywood', 'mompreneurs' and 'diapering all the way to the bank', actresses, singers, models and reality-TV stars are much more valuable with a baby bump, according to the New York Times.
While they might not be able to garner numbers like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's offspring, they realize they can at least get a little bit of the action.
Peter Grossman, the photo editor of Us Weekly told the New York Times: 'Being a celebrity mom has more business opportunities than ever before.
'Now, it’s not just about selling your baby pics. It’s starting a clothing line or endorsing a stroller. The value of a celebrity mom has never been higher.'
Jessica Simpson, for example, had her last Top 10 hit over a decade ago, with 'I Wanna Love You Forever.'
Mummy moguls: Kourtney Kardashian (left) and Kendra wilkinson (right) have both profited from their pregnancies
Despite this, Elle magazine put her on its April cover naked and pregnant, People magazine covered her baby shower over several pages in an issue last month, and she has reportedly been offered to extend her adult clothing line into a children wear label as well.
Then there
are the celebrities no longer considered for high-fashion appearances,
but are suddenly offered lucrative deals to show up at baby product
introductions, or to simply tweet on behalf of children-focused
companies, where they can earn thousands of dollars per tweet.
Richard Spencer, the editor-in-chief of OK! magazine, said: 'It
became a trend. People knew that having kids landed them on celebrity
titles. They found ways to court the press and get as much out of it as
they could.'
Kendra Wilkinson, once a party-girl star on The Girls Next Door, an E! reality series about Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion, become a 'mompreneur' after she got engaged and pregnant to a pro-football player.
She was offered a spinoff series about her impending motherhood, and its ratings were reportedly among E!’s highest.
Mompreneurs: Having high-profile
pregnancies makes a celebrity worth a lot more after giving birth, like
Tori Spelling (left) and Alessandra Ambrosio (right)
This followed an approximately mid-six-figure deal to sell her baby pictures and her weight-loss plan to OK! magazine, as did a book deal which spent over two months on the New York Times best-seller list.
She told the New York Times: 'I think it all had to do with me taking the craziest turn any party girl could have taken. And that’s having a family. It was much more valuable than being at the Playboy Mansion. Like 100 times more valuable.'
In our celebrity-obsessed culture, the
baby money-making phenomenon is just another facet of our
fascination with wanting to see celebrities 'just like us'.
Shari Levine, senior vice president of production for Bravo said: 'Pregnant women are physically in a slightly awkward physical state and they are emotionally very charged.
'It’s always very funny. We’ve been there, or we have friends and family that have been there. It makes us smile.'
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