MADONNA has lost a court bid to stop a former friend auctioning off intimate items including love letters and a hairbrush with strands of her hair.

A New York judge threw out the pop star’s lawsuit against Darlene Lutz, saying the statute of limitation to recover her items had passed.

One of the items is a break up letter from the rapper Tupac, who died in 1996 and who Madonna had dated secretly.

The auction will now go ahead in July, entertainment website TMZ reports.

Madonna had claimed she never knew that Lutz was in possession of Tupac Shakur’s 1995 letter until she heard about the online auction last year.

The singer and Lutz fell out in 2003, and after settling a legal dispute over artwork the following year, Madonna signed a release from “any and all” future claims against her former friend, Judge Gerald Lebovits said in his ruling made public Monday.

As such, he explained, the pop star could no longer sue over the items subject to auction.

(SD-Agencies)