On Monday, Britney Spears struck back against Us Weekly magazine’s claims that she and husband Kevin Federline made a sex tape and were worried about its release.
She is seeking $20 million in the libel lawsuit–$10 million in libel damages and the other $10 million for misappropriating Spears’ name and image to promote sales.
The lawsuit cites the Oct. 17 issue, which claims Spears and Federline gave a copy of the tape to their estate planning lawyers on Sept. 30 out of fear of distribution.
The “Hot Stuff” column went on to state the two proceeded to watch the tape with their lawyers, “acting goofy the whole time.”
“There was no laughter, disgust or goofy behavior while watching the video in the company of lawyers because they did not watch any video, and because there is no such video,” the lawsuit stated.
This is not the first ethical disagreement between Spears and the magazine. In February, the pop star publicly criticized the magazine for publishing pictures of her taken while she was on her honeymoon in the Fiji Islands; Us Weekly fired back, claiming Spears had sold such pictures to publications.
The magazine also issued a statement at the time regarding the February charges from Spears. “Could it be that Britney is seeing red after not seeing the green from these photos?” Us Weekly asked. “Britney Spears should start a magazine if she’d like to dictate her own coverage.”
