Christina Aguilera has baby rage
Baby mama drama!
Spinning the media on a celebrity's stint in rehab used to be a publicist's biggest headache. But now the folks who manage the images of the stars are witnessing the birth of a new nightmare that we'll call postpartum panic.
Driven by the booming market for baby photos, young starlets want to get top dollar for pictures of their tots from the hyper-competitive glossy mags.
With millions of dollars and fragile egos on the line, someone has to take the fall when the mothers' expectations aren't met.
After giving birth to her son, Max, Christina Aguilera threw a tantrum, according to a source close to the pop star, and fired her day-to-day manager, one of her assistants and her publicity firm BWR.
Christina was quite possibly peeved that the photos of her son did nothing to improve the newsstand sales of the People magazine. Maybe she was jealous that she only pocketed $1.5 million for the tot shots — less than the $1.7 million paid for photos of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter Dannielynn.
Regardless, X-tina went bananas. "She went crazy," says an astonished source. While BWR also reps J.Lo, the source said, the firm wasn't part of the team that secured Friday's $6 million payout for photos of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's twins.
New mom Nicole Richie is also showing symptoms of PPP, but she is sparing her beleaguered publicists at BWR, placing all the pressure on her longtime manager Benny Medina to find her the biggest possible baby-pix payday.
A source close to the action said Richie is acting "cheap" and trying to wring every cent she can out of the deal.
BWR rep Nicole Perna reports that Richie is busy being a mom and will rejoin the firm's roster this summer as she gets ready to launch her fashion line.
For the sake of the publicists and managers on both coasts, lets hope PPP doesn't prove too contagious.
Christina Aguilera has baby rage
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