Madonna wins court order to halt auction of Tupac breakup letter

PanARMENIAN.Net - Not for sale! Madonna won an emergency court order on Tuesday, July 18 in New York City to block an auction house from putting out 20 items of personal memorabilia, AceShowbiz said. It included "personally worn panties", an old checkbook, a hairbrush, personal photos and a handwritten letter from former boyfriend Tupac Shakur when he was in prison.

After the "Rebel Heart" singer filed a restraining order request in New York Supreme Court, Judge Gerald Leibovitz issued a temporary restraining order against Gotta Have Rock and Roll. It halted, for now, its rock-and-roll-themed auction which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday morning, July 19.

"I have never sold, gifted, transferred or otherwise disposed of the Shakur letter," the singer claimed in the restraining order request. In the court documents, Madonna blamed Darlene Lutz, a former friend and art consultant, saying that she had "betrayed" her trust "in an outrageous effort to obtain" her possessions, unbeknownst to her.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Gotta Have Rock and Roll and Lutz said in an emailed statement, "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. Madonna's allegations will be vigorously challenged and refuted in a court of law in due course."

The letter, which was dated in January 1995 and allegedly hand-written by Tupac, revealed that late rapper opted to end his romance with the singing diva because he felt that dating a white woman could jeopardize his career. "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," he wrote.

In another letter, Madonna appeared to slam Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone. "It's so unequivocally [sic] frustrating to read that Whitney Houston has the music career I wish I had and Sharon Stone has the film career I'll never have," Madonna wrote in the letter, which was allegedly sent to actor John Enos, before adding, "They are so horribly mediocre and they're always being held up as paragons of virtue and some of measuring stick to humiliate me."