Madonna Accepts Damages For Illegal Wedding Pics

Sometimes, even the paparazzi lose: British newspaper The Mail has paid damages to Madonna for taking unauthorized pictures of her wedding with Guy Ritchie in 2000.

According to the BBC, a judge in London “heard [the photos] were ‘surreptitiously’ copied by an interior designer working at her Beverly Hills home” in 2003; they were published by The Mail in October of last year, just days after Madonna announced her divorce with Ritchie.

Frequently, the parties that settle in these sorts of cases will pay up, but refuse to admit wrongdoing. But the Mail admitted it was wrong: they apologized to Madonna “for invading her privacy and infringing her copyright.” It’s unclear how much money Madonna will be getting, but earlier this year, she was seeking damages in excess of 5 million pounds, or 8 million dollars, according to the AP.

One thing is clear: she won’t be keeping any of it for herself. Her lawyer said she’d be donating her settlement money to her charity Raising Malawi, which is dedicated to helping the more than two million orphans in Malawi. If someone’s taken unauthorized photos of your wedding, that’s about as good an outcome as you could hope for.

Related: Madonna Singing, Lingerie Fighting with Lady Gaga on SNL

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