Madonna has recently had an interesting case. The ex-lover lost the case she sued to the auction house, which sells her special items, including the farewell letter Tupac wrote to her. This led to new inquiries about the protection of the private lives of the celebrities.
Last April, Madonna lost her case with the auction house, which was responsible for selling the personal items including the letter her ex-lover Tupac Shakur had written to her in 1995. The famous singer, a total of 22 pieces of personal belonging of her were sold without her consent, felt out of place quite rightly. It was a serious attack on Madonna's privacy, especially when Tupac’s letter was revealed in which he expressed that he wanted to leave her.
Tupac, who had hidden his relationship with Madonna until recently was one of the most influential musicians of America. Tupac, also known for his role as rap musician, has sold 75 million albums worldwide. His parents and many of his family members were black advocates, active members of the Black Panther Party against militarism and fascism. Tupac's political stance was reflected in all his activities, especially in music. It was also one of the most important reasons for having a massive and very loyal fan base. Tupac lost his life in an armed attack when he was 25 years old, three years after leaving Madonna.
When that’s the case, Tupac's letter became one of the most important pieces of the auction. This letter, which both hands of the world's most famous people touch, caused the dollar signs to blink in the eyes of the auctioneers. The letter in the auction finally reached $ 180,000. However, due to the legal process, sales were stopped. It is expected that the goods will be resold in July following the conclusion of the case against Madonna.
At this point, it is legally approved that this private letter is a public property by law and popular culture though all the efforts of Madonna against it. In short, Madonna and Tupac are perceived only as commodities in this context. This is certainly one of the most challenging costs of being famous. But, the fact that a person cannot claim even on their private letter makes it very thought-provoking.
In 2015, this relationship was announced on a television program by Madonna. Later, Tupac's letters to Madonna from prison appeared and began to be shared on the media. Madonna could not prevent this situation at the time. However, in 2017, when Tupac's farewell letter was announced to be sold at an auction starting at $ 100,000, Madonna did her best to prevent it and resorted to legal remedies.
Madonna's old friend collected her goods
First, in 2017, the court decided in favor of Madonna's and wanted to stop the sale of 22 properties for a period of time, indicating that they were "extremely intimate and confidential". However, in the last April, the court gave the final decision against Madonna. Including the private photos, underwear, unpublished music, and a hairbrush with hair on it are being sold at an auction site named Gottahaverockandroll.com. Some of these items were collected by Darlene Lutz, an art historian who was an old friend and employee of Madonna. Since Lutz guessed that everything which Madonna's hand touched would be of great value someday. So, he has hidden some of her own items and made her signed a contract that Madonna cannot claim any of these items. Of course, this decision between the Madonna and Lutz had an effect on the court's decision. Madonna, however, says she does not know that these items, especially the letter were in possession of Lutz.
The most striking point in the letter's content is that Tupac's relationship with a white woman as a reason to leave Madonna is not good for his image and career. Madonna tried to, at least, prevent the sale of the letter and other items about her private life, but she could not. No one knows how much someone really cares about the sale for a person like Madonna who has to live her life in public eye, even if she does not want to, but the conclusion of the case could result in favor of Madonna so as to make sense in terms of the importance of privacy and confidentiality. Unfortunately, it did not.
The lives of famous people have been drilled into the hole without knowing the boundaries due to the magazine world's tens of years popularity. Today, the same concept continues to be a part of everyone's life, whether celebrity or ordinary people, thanks to social media. Watching and being watched constitutes an increasingly larger part of our lives. Isn’t it frightening to be in public eye by the new world order that does not even allow our letters to belong to us? As Tupac said in Madonna's letter: "Please be very careful, people are not as honorable as they seem."
