Judge Halts Sale Of Madonna’s Personal Items

A judge on Tuesday halted the sale of several personal items that once belonged to superstar singer Madonna. Of the items to be sold at an auction by a third party were a pair of worn undergarments, a hairbrush with the singer’s hair, a love letter from her ex-boyfriend and deceased musician Tupac Shakur, and a handful of other items.

In all, Gotta Have It! Collectibles was forced by Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Gerald Leibovitz to pull 22 items from the auction. Madonna was unaware that many of the items, including the letter from Shakur, were no longer in her possession.

“The fact that I have attained celebrity status as a result of my success in my career does not obviate my right to maintain my privacy, including with regard to highly personal items,” Madonna said in court papers. “I understand that my DNA could be extracted rom a piece of my hair. It is outrageous and grossly offensive that my DNA could be auctioned for sale to the general public.”

A former friend of the singer, Darlene Lutz, was named in Madonna’s court papers as the person behind the sale of items although, Lutz’s spokesperson claims the items are legally hers. According to Madonna, Lutz was a “frequent overnight guest.”

“Madonna and her legal army have taken what we believe to be completely baseless and meritless action to temporarily halt the sale of Ms. Lutz’s legal property,” Pete Siegel, Lutz’s spokesman told the New York Post. “We are confident that the Madonna memorabilia will be back.”

In addition to the items already mentioned, the auction, which was scheduled for Wednesday, also included personal photographs, cassette tape recordings of unreleased music, and other letters.

This is the second time the “Like a Virgin” singer has gotten into a fight about a third party using her likeness in recent months.

Earlier this year, Universal purchased the rights to a script titled Blond Ambition by Elyse Hollander. The film is based on Madonna’s early days in New York City before she became famous. The script was not written with Madonna’s involvement and the singer seems unlikely to join the process at any point.

In an Instagram post, the singer wrote of the movie, “Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. Anyone else who tries is a charlatan and a fool.”

The singer is yet to take any legal action towards the makers of the film.