A Utah woman says she feels violated after a judge ordered her to hand over her ‘boudoir’ album of racy intimate photos to her ex-husband as part of their divorce settlement – so he could keep them for ‘memory’s sake.’
According to the NYPost, Lindsay Marsh, who was married to her husband Chris Marsh for 25 years, told the Salt Lake Tribune that the judge practically forced her to ‘distribute porn’ after ruling that Chris had the right to keep the loving messages she scribbled inside the album.
And while the Davis judge ultimately allowed her to have the racy album edited – so that the photos are ‘concealed’ – the ruling left her feeling violated.
“It’s violating, and it’s incredibly embarrassing and humiliating,” she said. “Even having to hand over the messages is “violating.”
“These are things that were sensual and loving that I wrote to my husband that I loved. [He’s] my ex-husband now,” she continued.
“The only way I can hopefully protect someone else from going through the same situation is to tell my story and expose that these are the types of things that he thinks are OK,” she told the Utah news outlet.
Lindsay said the racy album was the only thing her ex-husband, Chris, fought to keep during the divorce, which was finalized in July. But was in shock when Judge Michael Edwards, sitting in the 2nd district, sided with the ex by ordering her to hand over the album so that the ‘words are maintained for memory’s sake.’
However, the album could be “given to the original photographer to do whatever it takes to modify them so that any pics of Lindsay in lingerie or that sort of thing or even without clothing are obscured and taken out,” the judge wrote in a ruling.
Lindsay went to the photographer, a close friend, but she refused to edit the pics, arguing that the images were art that shouldn’t be altered.
So, in an August 26 ruling, Judge Michaels ordered her to hand the album to a third party to edit –someone she believes her ex-husband knew. Lindsay was so panicked that she called the judge’s clerks’ office to ensure she hadn’t misunderstood the ruling.
“I just want to clarify,” she recalled saying. “The judge has ordered me to give nude photos of my body to a third party that I don’t know without my consent?”
When the original photographer heard about the judge’s ruling, she agreed to edit the pics, putting large black boxes over any part of Lindsay’s body while keeping the messages intact.
However, Lindsay understands from talks between their attorneys that Chris is not happy with the edited photos.
“If all he was truly interested in was the inscriptions, he got those. I’ve complied with the court’s order, even though I believe strongly that [the] order [is] violating on many levels,” she said.
Lindsay is legally required to keep the original album until December in case her ex-husband demands new edits – after which she plans on having a burning party to torch the painful memories.
“It’s going to be amazing,” she told the Tribune.
Chris Marsh, the ex-husband, claimed the images were full of memories, inscriptions, and pictures, stressing they weren’t as inappropriate as Lindsay has said – “many have been posted online or hung in our home.”
“I cherish the loving memories we had for all those years as part of normal and appropriate exchanges between a husband and wife and sought to preserve that in having the inscriptions,” he told the Tribune.
He also said that his ex-wife’s take on the ruling was “not my perspective nor the perspective of an impartial judge.”
“It appears that she has intentionally misrepresented and sensationalized several aspects of a fair proceeding to manipulate the opinions of others for attention and validation of victimhood,” he added.
A Utah state court systems representative said Judge Michaels couldn’t discuss specific cases.
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