The day after Christmas, Lana Del Rey posted devastating news on her Twitter. Someone stole a collection of “family mementos” including work that “can’t be reproduced and exists nowhere but where it was.” Now, Del Rey is hoping whoever stole them will have a change of heart and return the items.
“This week, family mementos including my sisters entire retrospective were taken,” Del Rey wrote in a note on Twitter. “I’d love to encourage whoever took it to please consider sending any of the scans of her previous work back to us for a no questions asked reward.” It is unclear where the priceless possessions were taken from, but it’s clear that Del Rey will go to great lengths to recover the lost items.
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Del Rey’s sister, photographer Chuck Grant, is responsible for creating many of Del Rey’s iconic images. She photographed most of Del Rey’s album covers including her most recent LP, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, and directed a 14-minute video that accompanied the album. Del Rey is frequently the subject of Grant’s photos. According to Grant’s website, she predominantly shoots on film, which makes protecting scans and negatives even more important because it is not simply a matter of having a copy of the photo saved on an external hard drive somewhere. Once negatives and scans are lost, they can’t be duplicated with the same quality, if at all.
— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) December 27, 2019
This isn’t the first time Del Rey has experienced theft. In 2015, an “infatuated fan” broke into her Malibu home and stole a book. He was arrested and charged with felony burglary, reports Billboard. Del Rey has also obtained restraining orders and employed full-time security as a result of fans getting uncomfortably or dangerously close to her and her home. She also had to seek legal protection from a stalker who, as of 2018, was serving time in jail for threatening messages and attempting to bring a knife into one of her shows.
Del Rey made no mention of what else besides her sister’s work had been stolen, only that she hopes it all, or even just some, will be returned soon.