BEYONCE, JAY-C FOLK OUT KSH 100 MILLION TO HAVE A BABY

  

Entertainer Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce at a tennis tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York in this picture taken in September last year. PHOTO/ FILE | AFP 

By PHILIP MWANIKI
Posted  Monday, January 9  2012 at  22:30

IN SUMMARY

• Hollywood stars splashed extra Sh17 million for additional guards to seal off all access to hospital where Beyonce gave birth

To many, the only thing they hope for when they are about to have their baby is its health and a smooth labour.

Not so for celebrity couple Beyonce and Jay-Z.

When time came to bring their bundle of joy,Ivy Blue Carter, into the world, the would be mother and father spent an estimated Sh113 million ($1.3 million) to hire out the entire fourth floor of the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York to ensure maximum privacy.

It is also alleged they forked out an extra Sh17 million ($200,000) for additional private guards to seal off all access to the hospital.

Pictures of baby Ivy would fetch millions of dollars but the couple, said to be worth close to a billion dollars, clearly does not need the money and have revealed they would release the pictures at their own time.

Sealed loopholes

And do not expect images of the baby to leak to the press. The couple made sure they sealed all loopholes, including taping off all security cameras.

Anyone who had access to Beyonce and the baby, including doctors and nurses, had to turn in their mobile phones.

Her mega superstar mom announced her pregnancy at the 2011 Video Music Awards.Baby Ivy, born on Sunday through a C-Section, was already a celebrity even before she was born.

After her performance, Beyonce unbuttoned her jacket and rubbed her belly announcing to the world that she was heavy with child.

Then came the rumours that she was not really pregnant and had a surrogate to do all the work since she was scared of stretch marks and adding weight.

When she appeared in a Canadian TV interview, Beyonce’s bump looked like it was compressed balloon.

The video went viral and she responded by showing off her tummy while on holiday with Jay-Z to squash the rumours.

News that she had given birth started two weeks ago but it was not until singer Rihanna tweeted Ivy’s birth together with music mogul Russell Simmons that the world knew for sure.

The couple has been married three years and are known to be very secretive about their lives and go to extreme measures to keep away paparazzi.

Not a single picture of their wedding leaked and the press got to find out through public records.

But they are not the first to behave this way. When actress Angelina Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh, she came to Africa and literally ‘closed off’ Namibia from the press.

So big a deal was she and her husband Brad Pitt that news of their daughter’s birth was announced by the governor of the Namibian region of Erongo.

The Namibian government went ahead to provide the Hollywood star with security and enforced a no-fly zone around the beach resort where she was holed up. It was also reported that the government refused to grant visas to any foreign journalists unless they had written permission from Jolie and Pitt to cover the birth.

It was also reported the couple thanked the government for making sure their privacy was not breached with a donation of Sh174 million ($2 million) to an animal sanctuary in Namibia.