In a handwritten prison letter expected to bring over $100,000 at auction, Tupac Shakur confesses to Madonna that he ended their brief relationship because of her race. "For you to be seen with a black man wouldn't in any way jeopardize your career – if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting," the rapper wrote in the note, dated January 15th, 1995. "But for me, at least in my previous perception, I felt due to my 'image,' I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was. I never meant to hurt you." Shakur adds that he's "grown both spiritually and mentally" – no longer the "young man with limited experience with [an] extremely famous sex symbol." He extends an offer of friendship and asks Madonna if she'd agree to "speak face to face."