The US First Lady Melania Trump has won a payout and apology from the UK’s Daily Mail tabloid newspaper that made allegations about her modelling career that struck at the “heart” of her “personal integrity and dignity,” settling UK and US lawsuits.
The August 2016 article entitled “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump” contained untrue allegations “which questioned the nature of her work as a model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modeling”, her lawyer, John Kelly, said in a London court on Wednesday. “The allegations “strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity,” he said.
Mrs Trump is understood to have won a payout close to US$3 million, according to a person familiar with the settlement, who asked not to be named. The Guardian newspaper reported the damages figure earlier.
The president Donald Trump’s spouse filed a suit against the British newspaper in the United States for $150m alleging the article caused “tremendous harm” to her reputation and making it almost impossible to take advantage of “major business opportunities” available “for a multi-year term during which plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world”.
“The defendant acknowledges that these claims about the claimant are untrue, and we retract and withdraw them,” Catrin Evans, a lawyer for Associated Newspapers, said in court. Associated Newspapers is owned by Daily Mail & General Trust.
The tabloid published an apology on its website after the court hearing, saying “We apologise to Mrs Trump for any distress that our publication caused her.” The statements, apologies and payouts settle both the UK and US suits.
* Bloomberg
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