The breakup letter that Madonna received from her ex-boyfriend Tupac Shakur will go on auction later this month (read the note here).
The note is included as part of a collection of intimate personal items put up for auction by the pop icon’s former friend Darlene Lutz. Other items include cassettes and a hairbrush with strands of Madonna’s hair. Bidding begins online on July 17.
Shakur wrote the letter while he was in prison in 1995, a year before he was shot dead in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2015, Madonna revealed to journalist Howard Stern that the pair had dated in secret in the early ’90s.
In the letter, Shakur references comments Madonna made in an interview in which he said that she vowed “to rehabilitate rappers and basketball players or something to that effect. Her remarks had cut him “deep” because he’d “never known you to be with any rappers besides myself.”
Read more: Is Tupac alive? A comprehensive guide to the rumours and conspiracy theories
Skahur goes on to admit that he felt intimidated by Madonna’s sexually liberated persona. “Please understand my previous position as that of a young man with limited experience with [an] extremely famous sex symbol.”
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Later in the note 2Pac invites Madonna to visit him in prison. He signs off the letter with: “It’s funny, but this experience has taught me to not take time 4 [sic] granted.”
More: The Big Read – Madonna: ”People pick on me. That’s just the way it is”
The letter initially went up for auction in July 2017 and reached $100,000 (£72,000). But Madonna filed an emergency court order over Lutz’ auction at Gotta Have Rock and Roll, claiming that her celebrity stature did “not obviate my right to maintain my privacy, including with regard to highly personal items”.
New York judge Gerald Lebovits threw out Madonna’s lawsuit against Lutz. He said the statute of limitation to recover her items had passed. Additionally, he ruled that Madonna misdirected her legal action by targeting Lutz.
Lutz, who Madonna fell out with in 2003 over proposed items for auction, is a breast cancer survivor and will donate a portion of the proceeds to breastcancer.org.