Nikki Bella recalled an unexpected legal headache from her pregnancy that ended with the WWE Hall of Famer paying $15,000 over a paparazzi photograph of herself. The former Divas Champion explained that she had reposted the image to her Instagram Stories after seeing it in a fan’s post, only to later find herself facing a copyright lawsuit.
During an episode of “The Nikki and Brie Show,” Nikki discussed the period when photographers were pursuing celebrities over paparazzi images being shared on social media. She revealed that she had personally become involved in one of those disputes.
“Do you remember when the paparazzis for a second were doing that? Like anyone who posted paparazzi pics, they’d go and sue ’em. I got sued.”
“The Fearless One” explained that the photograph showed her while she was pregnant and simply walking around. She said she had not obtained the picture directly from the photographer and instead came across it through a fan who had tagged her.
“Yeah. And it was my pregnant me walking, and I reposted it, my Stories, and I got sued.”
When the subject of the photographer’s watermark came up, Nikki said she did not know whether the fan had removed it before sharing the image. She maintained that she had simply reposted what appeared on the fan account.
“I just reposted whatever I saw, like in a fan post. Like, I was tagged on. So I guess maybe the fan took off their watermark, but because I put it in my Stories, and then our whole thing was like, ‘Well, get the other person.'”
Nikki then revealed just how much the lawsuit ended up costing her, saying she had to pay around $15,000 to settle the matter.
“And they still had the right to come after me, and I had to give ’em like 15 Gs.” [H/T Ringside News]
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3MMy6WdhAO1ST8EeNZpNe2
For Nikki Bella, the situation highlighted how easily a social media repost could become an expensive legal problem, even when the person sharing the image was also the subject of the photograph.
Nikki Bella Recalls Other Celebrities Facing Similar Lawsuits
Getty Images
Nikki said she was far from the only celebrity caught up in the practice. She recalled seeing other high-profile names face much larger financial demands after sharing paparazzi photographs, including Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Kim Kardashian.
“Did you see when, like, Liam, um, Hemsworth got—he had to pay like a hundred Gs, and like a few other people? They were like—well, you got Jennifer Lopez. I remember Kim Kardashian. They all had like, like big—they got it big.”
Nikki described the practice as a “dirty little game,” while Brie Bella remembered celebrities eventually pushing back against photographers who followed them in public and then sought payment when the resulting images were shared.
“I felt like it lasted for such a short time because then everyone kind of band together. It was like, ‘I don’t think so. You can’t be, like, jumping outta bushes, taking pictures of us and then wanting to charge.’ It’s insane. It was a system that didn’t make sense,” Brie said.
The discussion ultimately reflected a short-lived but costly period when celebrities had to be especially careful about reposting photographs of themselves.
