Daily Mail, a UK newspaper has agreed to pay damages to the U.S. First Lady, Melania Trump over an article about her modelling career.
During the run-up to the U.S. Presidential Elections in 2016, the newspaper had reported that Melania Trump once worked as an escort, but later retracted its article.
Mrs Trump accepted damages and an apology from the newspaper at London’s High Court.
She filed her lawsuit in February, seeking damages of $150m (£120m) but the amount accepted by Mrs Trump was not disclosed in court.
However, Reuters news agency reports that the amount was less than $3 million and it is to cover legal costs and damages.
In its apology, the Daily Mail acknowledged it had published “allegations that she provided services beyond simply modelling.”
“We accept that these allegations about Mrs Trump are not true,” the newspaper said.
A lawyer for Mrs Trump told the London court the allegations “strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity”.
Mrs Trump’s lawsuit initially said that Mrs Trump had the “unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which [she] is one of the most photographed women in the world”.
Critics used the phrasing to question whether Mrs Trump had plans to make financial gains from her position.
A second version of the suit, re-filed weeks later, dropped the controversial wording.
Source – Reuters
