For nearly forty years, mother and daughter remained estranged, speaking only through lawyers. In 2012, Eva Ionesco took legal action against her mother, asking for the return of all negatives and damages for stolen childhood. Eva's lawyer asked,
The October 1976 issue was not the end of the controversy but the spark for a feud that lasted decades. In 1998, French police confiscated hundreds of photographs of Eva as a child from her mother's apartment. In 2012, Eva took her mother to court, claiming €200,000 in damages and accusing her of taking pornographic pictures of her and passing them to Playboy . The court found Irina Ionesco guilty of violating her daughter's privacy and ordered her to pay Eva €10,000 in damages and to hand over the remaining negatives. The judge rejected Eva's request for a full ban on her mother profiting from the images. For nearly forty years, mother and daughter remained
In October 1976, the Italian edition of the magazine published a pictorial featuring Eva Ionesco during her childhood. This publication is frequently cited in academic and legal discussions regarding the history of media ethics, as it involved the depiction of a minor in a professional adult publication. In 1998, French police confiscated hundreds of photographs