Court Rules Auction House Can Sell Madonna's Old Panties, Breakup Letter from Tupac

A court has ruled that a New York City auction house does have the right to sell several personal items that once belonged to Madonna, including a pair of her panties, a hairbrush, and her breakup letter from Tupac.

Madonna has been trying to block Gotta Have Rock auction house from selling off the items for more than a year now; she got a court order to temporarily block their sale in July 2017. But on Monday, it was reported that she lost her bid to stop the auction permanently.

The Guardian explained:

In a decision made public yesterday, judge Gerald Lebovits ruled that she had misdirected her legal action by targeting Darlene Lutz, the New York art collector who helped Madonna build a collection before the pair fell out.

Lebovits sided with Lutz, who claimed that the pair’s disputes had been settled in a 2004 legal agreement. The judge questioned why Madonna had pursued Ms Lutz rather than her own assistants, who Madonna claimed gave her possessions to the dealer. Lutz’s lawyer, Judd Grossman, called the decision “a total win,” saying: “Ms Lutz is now free to do with her property as she pleases without any continued interference by Madonna.”

The New York Daily News quoted the judge who said, “[Madonna] 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.” (Madonna claimed that she didn’t know Lutz had the items.)

The lot also includes a checkbook, photos, and another letter, in which Madonna called Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone “horribly mediocre,” according to NBC News. It might be legal to purchase the discarded underwear and apparently hair-containing brush of a living celebrity, but that doesn’t mean it’s not creepy and gross.