Tulisa Contostavlos This article is more than 11 years oldEx factor: Tulisa Contostavlos wins court apology over sex tape
This article is more than 11 years oldSinger and talent show judge says ex-boyfriend 'messed with the wrong woman' when he posted sex tape onlineTulisa Contostavlos said ex-boyfriend Justin Edwards "messed with the wrong woman" after she won an apology from him over a sex tape which appeared on the internet.
The singer and TV talent show judge – who turns 24 on Friday – was at the high court in London to accept the "sincere apologies" from rap artist Edwards, who initially denied being responsible for the tape appearing on the web.
Her solicitor, Jonathan Coad, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that the invasion of Contostavlos's privacy "was of the most severe kind imaginable".
"She suffered and continues to suffer very serious distress at this wholly unjustified and unlawful interference with her rights.
"She has been particularly distressed by the wholly untrue allegation made by some that she was in some way complicit with the release of the footage. She was not, as this statement makes clear."
Coad said that Edwards, who was not present but accepted all that was said on behalf of Contostavlos, had also agreed not to speak further in public about their relationship.
Outside court, Contostavlos said: "I am relieved that this is finally over. It has been a very testing few months and this was not a case I ever wanted to go through.
"Justin Edwards's actions were to spite me, make money and ruin my career. He has succeeded in none of these things …
I would now like to draw a line under this and put it in the past. I also would like to thank from the bottom of my heart the fans that stood by me. I'm especially grateful for all the support I have received from the public, my friends, family and team.
"With that support and my determination I have won this battle. Justin messed with the wrong woman."
Contostavlos, who shot to fame as a member of hip hop group N-Dubz and landed a high-profile role as a judge on the X Factor talent show, had an on-off relationship with Edwards which ended in late 2009.
Coad said that during the relationship, she permitted Edwards to take video footage of an intimate and sexual nature of her on a mobile phone "in an incident of which she still has no recollection".
Edwards retained the video footage after the break-up and controlled the rights in it.
In October 2010, he entered into an agreement with a third party for its commercial exploitation and, from January this year, that third party entered into a joint venture with a number of other third parties for its online exploitation.
"The intention of those involved in this joint venture, which led to the online publication of the footage on 17 March this year, was to earn a very substantial sum of money by charging $5.99 to individuals wishing to download the footage.
"They anticipated over a million downloads and consequently income of over $6m. They were however disappointed to discover that on the first day that the video was available for download they had earned only $35. The enterprise appears to have been a complete commercial failure.
"Despite that, the footage was republished throughout the internet and within days it had been seen by countless people for free."
Coad said that as a result of the litigation, 60 websites had been forced to remove the footage.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJulocG2vsRoaWlpYmS3triOamlorKWhtrStjJymp6yfqMGiwsuoqmaZoKS5sLPYZqqesF2prrGx