Clooney Is Suing Mad at Italian Paps

By PopEater Staff Posted Aug 15th 2009 06:50AM

George Clooney is suing mad at an Italian photographer who he claims hopped over his fence and illegally snapped a photograph of a 13-year-old houseguest changing in a bedroom, TMZ is reporting. A photographer snapped photos of the topless underage guest at Clooney's Italian villa while also taking photos of Clooney and his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis.

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Stars vs. Paparazzi

George Clooney is taking his fight against the paparazzi to court, suing a photographer and two Italian magazines for bedroom photos taken of a 13-year-old who was a houseguest at the Oscar-winner's Italian villa.

Pacific Coast News

Stars vs. Paparazzi

Pacific Coast News

Jude Law is accused of deliberately hitting a female photographer outside a restaurant in the early hours of July 23. "He hit me full on the face, it was a real stinger," says Harsha Gopal, who is considering legal action against the actor. He claims he was blinded by all the flashes and hit her accidentally.

Splash News

Lindsay Lohan fought photos with water (gun) in Malibu, squirting paparazzi as they trailed her around town.

Splash News

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are seen here looking none-too-happy to see a photographer snapping photos of them in Hollywood. As the photographer lingered, Gyllenhaal became visibly angered.

Bauer-Griffin

After exchanging some words with the photogs, Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon went on their way without any major incident.

Bauer-Griffin

In June of 2008, 'Dancing With the Stars' contestant Steve Guttenberg was in no mood to be photographed while on a jog, grabbing the camera from a paparazzo and threatening to punch him. According to the photo agency Bauer-Griffin, Guttenberg was "was munching on a banana after a jog" when he "suddenly became wildly angry, motioning to punch a photographer and grabbing at a videographer's camera."

Bauer-Griffin

Hugh Grant kicked a TMZ photographer in the groin while he was leaving The Waverly Inn in New York. But this isn't his first paparazzi "run in." In April 2007, Grant hurled a container of baked beans at a photographer lurking outside his home. According to the paparazzo, Grant left him "bruised, battered" and covered in the saucy legumes. The 'Bridget Jones' actor was arrested but never charged.

Nicola Asfouri, AFP / Getty Images

Kelly Osbourne's fiance Luke Worrall began throwing eggs at the paparazzi when she arrived home on April 6, 2009.

X17

Hayden Panettiere lost her cool with paparazzi on the red carpet at a fundraiser in Honolulu. One reporter tried to get Panettiere's attention and touched her shoulder. Panettiere turned around and screamed, "Don't you ever touch me!" Before going inside, the 'Heroes' star snapped, "You all make my life miserable."

Axel Schmidt, AFP / Getty Images

"We need to make a distinction between people who photograph celebrities at events and people who climb over your wall wearing camouflage and calling out your kids names as you take them to school so they'll look that way," Brad Pitt tells Ann Curry of the 'Today Show'. "I have no respect for these people... There should be laws against it."

Dave Hogan, Getty Images

In a statement to TMZ, Clooney said the following: "We're suing two magazines AND a photographer. I don't know about the law in the United States but in Italy it's illegal for photographers to climb over my wall and to take long lens pictures of a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom. I draw the line of privacy at that."

Over the course of his career, Clooney has had his ups-and-downs with the paparazzi, sometimes getting into verbal arguments with them.

Tags: george clooney, GeorgeClooney, paparazzi

Comments

(51)

Saturday 15 August

By abbyshomrb

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

you go George...

By evelyn27

I hope he wins, and those sorry creeps find another line of work 'cause they shouldn't be allowed to do this anymore.

By Trizone

Unbelievable! Is anything off limits anymore? I hope that Clooney not only wins, but puts the photographer and mags out of business. The demand for this trashy photojournalism feeds the minds and pockets of these creeps. I will never forget how Princess Diana was hounded to her death, with no one to help her.

By Roe

I agree. What happened to Princess Diana should be a wake-up call to everyone concerning the paparazzi. You want to get your picture fine but how you get it does cross some boundries. Ease -up

By Thom

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Clooney is always angry at something or someone. It is becoming tiresome. This is the downside of celebrity--live with it, or change careers!

Sunday 16 August

Thom,obviously you do not get that this is ultimately not about Clooney, but about a 13 year old's privacy and safety being put at risk. How can you simply dismiss this act by saying that he should change careers? He is outraged for the right reasons and no, this is not tiresome to anyone with a conscience.

By Nicey

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Clooney may have to live with it as he is in show business. But his 13 year old guest should not have to live with having naked pictures taken of her from a trespasser.If it was your mother, daughter, wife or girlfriend you would feel differently.

By Joe

Celebrities like Clooney annoy me; they're always ticked off; they act like fortune's against them. Don't they realize God's been very good to them? They lead pampered lives, they lack little; they do not have to endure money worries that the other 99.99% of us experiences. This
aging lothario needs to take anger management.

By trizone

I believe anyone would be outraged if a man would climb over a fence and photograph a 13 year old girl while she is in a bedroom of a home where she is a guest. The fact that it happens to be a celebrity is of no consequence to me, the fact that he can do something about it, is! I hope he fleeces them!!!

By lovethejava!

While celebrities should have to deal with some invasion of privacy, at what point do you feel it is ok to trespass and take photos of an underage girl? Is this not child porn? How could you miss something so obvious? So you don't like Mr. Clooney, no big deal, I don't expect everyone to like everybody, but stay focused as to what the real problem is - she was 13 and he had to hop a fence and use a telephoto lens to get her topless. For shame.

By coprogirl

Are you joking? George Clooney is an even-tempered, classy guy. You know absolutely nothing of what you write.

By Hill

Reese Witherspoon and gay pal Jake Gyllenhaal love paparazzi - they use paparazzi to market the showmance.

Thursday 20 August

By denise

Jake is not gay and so what if he were. The story is about a pervert taking pictures of a 13 year old in a bedroom topless. What part of this story is about straight Jake and Reese. Get your facts straight literally.

By mash2628

Oh the poor playboy isn't getting his way! Boo Hoo. Seems to me him and his friends have been having plenty of young women undressing. My guess, this 13yr old girl is someones daughteer, and Clooney like the rest of his rat pack friends, could care less whose lives they are disrupting for their own personal sexual gratification. They are male whores!

By Gloria

He is an adult and chose his career willingly.Dealing with the paps is part of the job, but taking pics of a 13 year old girl is WAY out of line! That is child pornagraphy. It's sick! Any one who would condone this sort of photography is sick! No matter that he is a celebrity, or where he lives, there are things that should not be okay with anyone. As the mother of a young girl, I would personally would be pissed to the point of violence if this happened to my child. I hope that the courts put these people under the jail where they deserve to be.

By mage0213

Is it legal in Italy to take nude photos of a 13 yr old girl? even if it is only the top half? Well I read comments about how clooney always is mad- in this instance I would think his anger is justified. But I hear you already- he's a celeb he has no rights to privacy anyone who condones this activity from a photographer or subscribes to the belief that a celeb has no right to privacy are all part of the problem NOT the solution

By Wendy

Simple way to avoid snapshots, close the blinds when you undress.

You are absolutely right, but perhaps a 13 yr old girl doesn't quite understand that paparzzi are without honor and presumed she could safely undress in whichever room she was in ALSO In America it is called trespassing if you enter someones yard and 'peeping' if you start looking in the windows- If it were not a celebrity (of sorts) the paparrazzi would have been arrested on the spot why is it that the paparrazzi are allowed this conduct in the performance of their duties? seems to me the RAGs that they work for could be shut down if they condone or support this activity- just My opinion. (but I really don't give a RAT$ A$$ about what this celebrity or that celebrity is doing- it is only interesting reading- if it weren't published I wouldn't even know about it. what bothers me is when I see stories ogf how the press is stepping over the line- they must be making big money if they insist on trampling on the rights of whomever they are photographing

By Mickerie

You go, George! Somebody has to stand up to these vermin. With you all the way.

By Jenny

You know it's like everything else in life, you take the good with the bad. The "stars" WANT the cameras around when it makes money for them, but the paps figured out that THEY make more money when they take the pictures the "stars" don't want them to. Isn't KARMA a bite?

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