Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried take legal action over leaked photos
Pictures of both actresses were wrongfully obtained
Lawyers for actresses Emma Watson and Amanda Seyfried are coming for the people who leaked private photos of the Hollywood stars.
A representative for Watson confirmed that photos circulating online Wednesday were authentic and had been stolen.
“Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen. They are not nude photographs,” Watson’s publicist, Luke Windsor, told USA TODAY in a statement. “Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further.”
In Seyfried’s case, the actress was photographed in intimate situations with a former boyfriend and the photos were leaked to the website Celebrity Jihad, which traffics in nude celebrity photos, both real and Photoshopped.
In a letter obtained by TMZ on Thursday, her attorneys threatened legal action against the site unless they were removed immediately and demanded that the site preserve evidence of the photos and any correspondence pertaining to their use or distribution.
“As you acknowledge on your website, these photos are believed to have been leaked, i.e. wrongfully obtained by a third party or parties without Ms. Seyfried’s knowledge or consent,” they told Celebrity Jihad, noting that the act of publishing the photos was at the very least a copyright infringement and at worst, a violation of her privacy. Both actresses’ profiles are especially high at the moment — Watson’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters Friday; meanwhile, first-time mom-to-be Seyfried’s latest film, The Last Word, premiered earlier this month.
The leaks come days after Mischa Barton’s lawyer issued a statement promising to find and prosecute anyone seeking to sell or buy “revenge-porn” photos of her, believed to have been taken without her consent by someone she was dating at the time.
“This is a painful situation,” she acknowledged in a statement to People Wednesday, “and my absolute worst fear was realized when I learned that someone I thought I loved and trusted was filming my most intimate and private moments, without my consent, with hidden cameras. Then I learned something even worse: that someone is trying to sell these videos and make them public. I came forward to fight this not only for myself but for all the women out there.”