Angelina Jolie on why she sold first pics of twins Vivienne and Knox

This girl wanted to get ahead of it before she was interrupted.

Angelina Jolie has revealed why she decided to sell the pictures of her newborn twins Knox and Vivienne, now 16, in 2008 to People and Hello! magazines.

“It’s a strange thing to have to do or to do, but it was kind of the better option, but also it was for their safety,” the actress said about the decision during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday. “It was that somebody was coming for it and it was a safety concern as well.

“It was just better to control it in a safe place, in a safe way,” Jolie continued. “And do something good with it, obviously, if you can. That’s much better.”

The “Maria” star, 49, and her then-husband, Brad Pitt, donated the money they received to their charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Along with Knox and Vivienne, Jolie and Pitt, 61, have Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18.

Later in the panel, the “Eternals” actress also discussed whether or not she felt her children would follow in her footsteps, nothing that she didn’t think that any of her kids had an “affinity” for movies. 

“No. I don’t know, that’s not my doing,” Jolie admitted. “I always wanted them to be around film because I wanted them to know as a part of — it’s such a wonderful family, to be creative, to be an artist, to be … They’re not interested.

“They really don’t like any of the celebrity part of it, especially Shiloh hates it,” she added. “I think in a very healthy way they don’t … It’s not a normal thing. It’s a silly thing really.”

However, her kids have connected to the art of film in other ways.

“Yes, they’ve been on set with me,” Jolie continued. “And some of them dance, some of them paint, some of them love theater, but none of them are dying to be on screen.”

Jolie and Pitt started dating after starring in the 2005 action comedy “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” They tied the knot in 2014, but by 2016, the pair had split.

The “Maleficent” actress filed for divorce following an altercation on a plane with the kids present.

Eight years later, the exes tied up their lengthy divorce battle. In 2024, their daughter Shiloh ditched the last name Pitt.

She made a legal request to drop her famous father’s surname after she had turned 18.

A judge signed off on legally changing Shiloh’s name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie in August.

“Shiloh hired her own lawyer and paid for it herself, so Angie doesn’t know and can’t speak for it,” an insider told “Entertainment Tonight.”

Shiloh’s siblings have also continued to distance themselves from the “Bullet Train” star’s life in recent years.

Last year, Vivienne was listed as “Vivienne Jolie” in the Playbill for the Broadway production of “The Outsiders,” which she co-produced with her mom.

Zahara was the first of the children to stop using Pitt in November 2023. After becoming an Alpha Kappa Alpha, she introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” during an induction ceremony at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.