Pop legend Madonna has lost a legal battle intended to halt the sale of a break-up letter she received from Tupac Shakur back in 1995.
You might recall how back in July of last year, it was announced that a letter written by Tupac Shakur to Madonna was set to head for auction, with bidding starting at $100,000.
The 1995 letter, which was written by Tupac while in prison, was sent to Madonna in order to inform her that their relationship was ending because Tupac was worried that dating a white woman could damage his reputation.
“For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open & exciting,” the letter reads. “But for me at least in my previous perception I felt due to my ‘image’ I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was. I never meant to hurt you.”
However, only days after it was set to go under the hammer at the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auction house, its sale was halted by a judge, along with 21 other personal items that the singer described as “highly confidential and embarrassing,” after Madonna filed an emergency court order.
Now, the legal battle has concluded, with Justice Gerald Lebovitz ruling in favour of the auction house, who reportedly obtained the items from Madonna’s former personal assistant Darlene Lutz in 2004.
As the New York Daily News notes, Justice Gerald Lebovitz wrote in his decision that the singer “knew that throughout her relationship with Lutz, Lutz was in possession of various pieces of (Madonna’s) personal property. Yet before this action began, the plaintiff did not make any demand to return her possessions.”
“We did substantial due diligence when we took all the Madonna items for auction,” the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auction house confirmed in a statement. “We were confident that Madonna had no claim whatsoever, and the judge clearly agreed with us.”
“I was confident in our case and that Madonna’s lawsuit was frivolous,” added lawyer Jeffrey Haas. “And all the high-priced attorneys she hired couldn’t change that fact.”
If you’ve still got your cash saved up from the last time the letter was briefly up for sale, you’ll have another chance to put down a bid when the letter goes back up for sale in July.
Check out Madonna’s ‘Give It 2 Me’:
