Brad Pitt Defends Family Magazine Deals 12/4/08

Brad Pitt has defended his and Angelina Jolie's decision to sell pictures of their family to magazines - insisting they wanted to "funnel the money into something good." In 2006 Pitt and Jolie struck a multi-million dollar with picture agency Getty, releasing the first shots of their first biological child, Shiloh, now two, in return for a donation to charity.

And earlier this year (08), the couple sold shots of their newborn twins, Knox and Vivienne, following their birth in French hospital in July (08). The images were snapped up for a reported $14 million (£9.3 million), which was split between U.S. magazine People and British publication Hello. The couple subsequently poured the money straight into their own charity, the Jolie-Pitt foundation.

And Pitt admits it was a difficult decision to sell such intimate pictures of his children, but he has no regrets, because the money has gone to such good causes. He tells U.S. talk show host Larry King, "Angie and I did talk about it a lot, especially with the birth of Shiloh. The pictures, I'm talking about the pictures of the kids, there's a bounty on our heads.

These pictures are going to come out at some point, they're gonna be chasing us, they'll do anything to get these photos. "So we just thought that maybe, since there's such a bounty and that bounty is so obnoxious, we could take that money and funnel it into something good. And that's what we did. It's still a bit uncomfortable to do such a thing, but I know it's right in the end."