Michael Phelps wasn’t totally taken by surprise when the News of the World published a photo of him using what appears to be a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina last November.

According to a source close to the photo deal, Phelps, like many celebrities before him, attempted to get the photo off the market, but he was quite obviously unsuccessful.

“There was an effort to purchase it, there was even talk of him writing a sports column as well for a period of time to in exchange for not running it,” the source said. “But the News obviously knew what it had on its hands. They weren’t going to play ball.”

Reps for Phelps didn’t comment.

(source)

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