Nice, FRANCE (Reuters)
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, her doctor at a hospital in southern France said on Sunday.
Oscar winner Jolie, 33, had the twins by caesarean section on Saturday evening at the Lenval hospital on the glamorous Promenade des Anglais waterfront drive in Nice. Actor Brad Pitt, the twins' father, was believed to be at her side.
The girl, named Vivienne Marcheline, weighed 2.27 kg (5.0 lbs) while her brother, Knox Leon, weighed an almost identical 2.28 kg, according to Jolie's doctor, Michel Sussmann.
"The parents and the babies are in excellent health. Everything is fine," Sussmann told press. He said the c-section had been planned for a long time but the date was brought forward "for medical reasons".
Marcheline was the name of Jolie's mother, also an actress, who died of cancer last year.
A crowd of photographers and camera crews camped outside the building on Sunday morning with satellite trucks, hoping for a glimpse of family and friends arriving to congratulate the parents.
Newspaper Nice Matin, which broke news of the birth on Sunday, reported that the couple had sold exclusive rights to the first photographs of the twins to an unnamed U.S. magazine for $11 million and would give the money to charity.
Nice Matin said Jolie, who had become weary of being indoors for so long but did not wish to be seen by paparazzi, had taken a walk on the roof of the hospital to take the air just two days before the birth.
The celebrity couple, known in the media as "Brangelina", moved into a 17th century villa in Provence, France, earlier this year, with paparazzi descending on the village of Correns when news of their arrival leaked out. |
