Angelina Jolie reveals sad reason she made difficult decision to sell photos of her kids

Angelina Jolie has opened up about the sad reason she made the difficult decision to sell photos of her newborn twins back.

The Mr. & Mrs. Smith star and her then-husband, Brad Pitt, welcomed twins Knox and Vivienne to the world back in 2008. The pair are also parents to Maddox, who Jolie adopted in 2002, Zahara, who was adopted in 2005, Shiloh, who Jolie gave birth to in 2006 and Pax who the couple adopted in 2007.

At the time of Knox and Vivienne's birth, Jolie and Pitt made the decision to sell photos of the newborn babies to PEOPLE and Hello! magazine - something which surprised many fans.

Jolie has since explained the reasoning behind the decision during a panel at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival earlier this month (5 February).

"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," she said. "It was that somebody was coming for it and it was a safety concern as well."

The mum-of-six went on to explain: "It was just better to control it in a safe place, in a safe way and do something good with it, obviously, if you can. That's much better."

Angelina Jolie and her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, share six children together (Karwai Tang / Contributor / Getty Images)

Jolie and her then-husband Pitt decided to donate the money they received for the pictures to their charity, The Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Elsewhere during the panel, Jolie opened up about whether or not she thought her kids would follow in her acting footsteps, revealing she didn't think any of then had an 'affinity' for movies.

"No. I don’t know, that's not my doing," Jolie shared. "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."

The Maria star revealed why she and Pitt sold photos of their newborn twins, Knox and Vivienne, to the press (VALERIE MACON / Contributor / Getty Images)

The Maria actress continued: "They really don't like any of the celebrity part of it, especially Shiloh hates it.

"I think in a very healthy way they don't … It's not a normal thing. It's a silly thing really."

However, Jolie was sure to note that this didn't mean her children haven't connected with the art of film in their own personal ways as she added: "Yes, they've been on set with me.

"And some of them dance, some of them paint, some of them love theater, but none of them are dying to be on screen."