LONDON — Handwritten letters from Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to his former lover Marsha Hunt will be auctioned in London next month.

Hunt is an American-born singer who was the inspiration for the Stones’ 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” and gave birth to Jagger’s first child.

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Handwritten letters from Mick Jagger, above, to Marsha Hunt, below, in a 1969 portrait, will be auctioned in London next month. The U.S.-born singer was the inspiration for the Rolling Stones’ 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” and gave birth to Jagger’s first child. The Associated Press

Holly Hunter The Associated Press

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez The Associated Press

Sotheby’s said Saturday that Hunt has tasked the auction house with selling 10 letters written from the set of Jagger’s film “Ned Kelly,” which was shooting in Australia.

Hunt said the letters chronicling their “delicate love affair” and secret history touch on subjects such as the first moon landing and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

“When a serious historian finally examines how and why Britain’s boy bands affected international culture and politics, this well-preserved collection of Mick Jagger’s handwritten letters will be a revelation,” she said in a statement distributed by the auction house.

Sotheby’s books specialist Gabriel Heaton said the letters sent in the summer of 1969 show a “poetic and self-aware” 25-year-old Jagger.

“They provide a rare glimpse of Jagger that is very different from his public persona: passionate but self-contained, lyrical but with a strong sense of irony,” Heaton said.

Sotheby’s said the collection, which includes song lyrics and a Rolling Stones playlist, is expected to fetch between $111,300 and $159,000 and will go under the hammer Dec. 12.

Bieber and Gomez split, citing busy schedules

NEW YORK — A source confirmed to The Associated Press that Justin Bieber is no longer Selena Gomez’s “Boyfriend.”

The source was not authorized to discuss the split with the press and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The breakup apparently happened last week. Distance and their busy schedules were cited as factors.

Eighteen-year-old Bieber is touring to promote his latest album, “Believe,” which contains the hit “Boyfriend.” Twenty-year-old Gomez is filming a “Wizards of Waverly Place” reunion for the Disney Channel.

The pair made their relationship public in February 2011.

Hunter set to star in new play

NEW YORK — Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter is hoping to rip up the stage when she stars off-Broadway in a new play by Hamish Linklater.

The Flea Theatre said Friday the actress from such films as “Broadcast News” and “Raising Arizona” will be in “The Vandal” from Jan. 18 to Feb. 17.

The play will also star Zach Grenier and Noah Robbins. Jim Simpson will direct. The Flea says the new work is a play “about death and vandalism in Kingston, N.Y.”

Hunter, who also starred in the TV series “Saving Grace,” was last off-Broadway in “Impossible Marriage” in 1998 and played the “Mystery Guest Star” in “The Play What I Wrote” on Broadway in 2003.

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