This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Business News Legal
Madonna halts auction of her hair, pants and celebrity love letters
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 20 July 2017
A New York judge has halted the auction of some personal items that once belonged to Madonna, partly because the pop star thought at least some of the personal items for sale were actually still her belongings.
The courts ordered the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auctions site – recently in the news after a copy of mainly unreleased Michael Jackson tracks was withdrawn from sale – to take 22 items out of its latest auction, including a pair of Madonna’s pants, an old hairbrush containing some of the singer’s hair, and a letter she received from the late Tupac Shakur.
With regards that letter, according to the New York Daily News, Madonna told the court: “I became aware through media reports that there was a planned auction of extremely personal, private correspondence I received from a former boyfriend, the late recording artist and actor Tupac Shakur. I had no idea that the letter was no longer in my possession”.
As for the hair in the hair brush, the star reckoned it was “outrageous and grossly offensive” that her DNA could be up for auction. She added that she had been “shocked to learn” about the planned auction and that “former friend” Darlene Lutz was behind the sale.
Although Madonna secured the injunction halting the sale of the offending items, the auction site said it would appeal the ruling. A spokesperson told the Daily News: “Madonna and her legal army have taken what we believe to be a completely baseless and meritless action to temporarily halt the sale of Ms Lutz’s legal property. We believe that her intent is nothing more than to besmirch the good reputations of the auction house and Ms Lutz”.
