Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher Take Legal Action Against Mail Online Over Photos Of Their Daughter
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are taking legal action against the British online newspaper, Mail Online.
According to BBC News, the newlyweds and former That 70s Show co-stars issued High Court proceedings against Associated Newspapers on Monday, July 27, claiming that the newspaper misused private information and breached the Data Protection Act. The documents were based on two articles published by the outlet, and are on behalf of Kunis, Kutcher, and their 1-year-old daughter, Wyatt.
“Ashton and Mila understandably value their private and family life, and in particular their personal time with their daughter. Like any other family they should be allowed to enjoy family outings without being pursued by photographers,” the couple’s lawyer, Paul Tweed, said in a statement. “They have made it clear that they do not agree to the publication of photographs of such occasions.”
The paparazzi photographs were reportedly used for “unauthorized” promotion of clothing, and showed the couple with their daughter on family outings.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis launch legal action against MailOnline over family pictures. http://t.co/IDvgidTsdm pic.twitter.com/UBmp4kEdOg
— BBC Ents News Team (@BBCNewsEnts) July 27, 2015
Kutcher, who started dating Kunis in 2012 after divorcing his first wife, Demi Moore, previously spoke about how important it is to him to keep his family life out of the spotlight as much as possible.
“You know, I’ve learned the hard way how valuable privacy is,” he explained, Cover Media reports, via Yahoo! News. “And I’ve learnt that there are a lot of things in your life that really benefit from being private,” he added, when speaking about the early stages of his relationship with Kunis. “And relationships are one of them. And I am going to do everything in my power to have this relationship be private.”
Kunis and Kutcher are not the first couple to take on the British online newspaper. Last July, George Clooney called out the site for reportedly publishing false information about his now-mother-in-law. The site later apologized for the story and removed it from their site. However, George was not satisfied and described them as “the worst kind of tabloid.”
“In the apology, managing editor Charles Garside claims that the article was ‘not a fabrication,’ but ‘based the story on conversations with senior members of the Lebanese community,’ ” Clooney said in a statement to USA Today at the time.
George Clooney rejects Daily Mail apology, calling it ‘worst kind of tabloid’ http://t.co/EWkNHfGHmy
— Mario Aguilar (@BluBird76) July 28, 2015
“The problem is that none of that is true,” he added. “The original story never cites that source, but instead goes out of its way to insist on four different occasions that ‘a family friend’ spoke directly to the Mail. A ‘family friend’ was the source. So either they were lying originally or they’re lying now.”
Mail Online has yet to respond to the BBC’s request for comment regarding Mila Kunis’ and Ashton Kutcher’s steps towards legal action.
[Photo by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images]
