A new biography about Aretha Franklin is out and the queen is not pleased.
David Ritz, who has written biographies about Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson and Etta James, wrote "Respect," which Franklin says was done without her permission. Ritz worked with Franklin on her 1999 autobiography, "From These Roots," but Ritz felt that more of the story needed to be told, according to Detroit News.
Ritz used information from past interviews with Franklin's late sisters Erma and Carolyn, her late brother Cecil and her booking agent Ruth Bowen, according to Detroit News.
Franklin is steamed up about the "trashy" book, including the steamy "sex circus" Ritz alleges occurred at Franklin's father's church and other stories that she calls "lies, lies, lies," according to Detroit News.
"I'm talking to a criminal attorney. If this isn't defamation, I don't know what would be, although I understand it's still hard to prove from the celebrity point of view," the Queen of Soul told Detroit News.
"Celebrities give a lot of themselves, of their heart and soul, and time to performance and to charity," Franklin continued. "Then somebody comes out who blatantly disrespects you and attacks you, and tells a ton of lies. He even had the unmitigated gall to quote my sisters and brother. He has them saying things they never would say. My brother would have knocked him out."
"As for 'From These Roots:' I had edit approval and at that time I edited out some of the crazy things (Ritz) wanted to put in my, underscore my, book," Franklin went on. "Seemingly he has been carrying this hatred for years.