Nikki Bella once got hit with a lawsuit for reposting a paparazzi photo of herself, and the whole thing ended up costing her around $15,000. Making it even stranger, the photo was simply of a pregnant Nikki walking around, and she says she had originally found it through a fan who tagged her.
Nikki shared the story on the Nikki and Brie Show while discussing a period when paparazzi photographers were going after celebrities for posting their photos on social media. She quickly revealed that she wasn’t just watching it happen to other people.
“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 photo in question wasn’t exactly some carefully staged celebrity shoot. Nikki was pregnant at the time and had simply been photographed walking before the image eventually made its way onto her Instagram Stories.
“Yeah. And it was my pregnant me walking, and I reposted it, my Stories, and I got sued.”
Nikki was then asked whether she had removed the photographer’s watermark before sharing it. According to her, she hadn’t even gotten the image directly from the photographer in the first place. Instead, a fan had apparently posted the photo and tagged her. Nikki simply reposted what she saw, meaning she doesn’t know whether the fan had already removed the watermark.
“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.’”
That argument apparently didn’t get Nikki very far. She says the photographer still had the right to pursue her over the repost, and getting the situation settled wasn’t cheap.
“And they still had the right to come after me, and I had to give ’em like 15 Gs.”
When the guest reacted in disbelief, Nikki confirmed that the roughly $15,000 payment was what it took to settle the matter: “To settle on that, bro.” Nikki remembered other celebrities getting caught up in similar disputes for considerably more money. She brought up Liam Hemsworth and also recalled names such as Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian while describing what was happening at the time.
“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.”
The whole setup never sat right with Nikki. From her perspective, paparazzi could photograph celebrities out in public and then turn around and pursue those same people for sharing the images.
“It’s a dirty little game. Dirty little game.”
Brie remembers that period being relatively short-lived because celebrities eventually started pushing back against the practice. She felt the entire system made little sense when photographers were the ones following celebrities around to get the pictures in the first place.
“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.”
Nikki wasn’t trying to profit from the photo or even claiming she took it herself. As she tells it, she simply reposted a fan’s post featuring a picture of her own pregnant body, and that was enough to leave her roughly $15,000 lighter after the settlement.
What do you make of Nikki Bella having to pay around $15,000 for reposting a paparazzi photo of herself? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
