Jessica Simpson is being sued by fans who claim she posed with their baby and then pretended it was her own on the cover of a magazine.
Christopher Hurst and Tracy Gregory from Louisiana have filed a lawsuit against Jessica, OK! magazine and Getty Images for using a picture of their baby son without permission.
The saga began in 2011 when Christopher took his teenage daughter to see Jessica at a meet-and-greet at Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, Los Angeles.
Christopher took his baby son too, also named Christopher, and while they were waiting in line, two strangers approached and asked if Jessica could have her photo taken with the baby.
Christopher claims he “reluctantly” agreed and a photographer from Getty snapped dozens of pictures of Jessica and the baby.
Six months later, one of those pictures appeared on the cover of the April 16 2012 issue of OK! magazine next to the headline “The star opens up about her beautiful girl”.
The text accompanying the image made it seem like baby Christopher was in fact Jessica’s new daughter Maxwell.
Christopher and Tracy’s lawsuit seeks $75,000 in damages, claiming OK! intended to mislead its audience into believing baby Christopher was Jessica’s child.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Jessica and Getty Images were in on the scheme and planned to make money by passing off the image as Jessica and her own baby.
“In the case of Christopher Hurst, OK! magazine paid him nothing, despite clear intention to mislead some or all of the consuming public into believing the photograph on the cover of the subject issue was actually Simpson’s first child,” the paperwork reads.
“Jessica knew that she would appear on front of the magazine with Christopher in her arms and that she had financial motive through the publicity she received.”
