The president’s wife, Melania, has successfully sued Britain’s The Daily Mail after it suggested the former model had also worked as an escort.
The original 2016 article suggested that Melania “had offered services beyond just modelling” prior to her marriage to Donald Trump.
Publishers of the Daily Mail and MailOnline have agreed to pay damages and a retraction (see below) to Melania Trump over false claims about her work as a professional model.
Trump was furious when the allegations first aired and threaten to sue for as much as $US200 million. However, the final sum – which has not been disclosed – is reportedly to be more likely around $US3 million and includes her legal bills.
A statement read out to London’s Royal Courts of Justice said the offending article included “false and defamatory claims about [Mrs Trump] which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model and republished allegations that she provides services beyond simply modelling.
“The article included statements that Mrs Trump denied the allegations and Paulo Zampolli, who ran the modelling agency, also denied the allegations and the article also stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations.
“The article also claimed that Mr and Mrs Trump may have met three years before they actually met and ‘staged’ their actual meeting as a ‘ruse’. These allegations about Mrs Trump are not true.”
The retraction, which will be published in the Daily Mail and MailOnline, reads: “The Daily Mail newspaper and the Mail Online/DailyMail.com website published an article on 20th August 2016 about Melania Trump which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modelling. The article included statements that Mrs Trump denied the allegations and Paulo Zampolli, who ran the modelling agency, also denied the allegations, and the article also stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations. The article also claimed that Mr and Mrs Trump may have met three years before they actually met, and ‘staged’ their actual meeting as a ‘ruse’.
“We accept that these allegations about Mrs Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them. We apologise to Mrs Trump for any distress that our publication caused her. To settle Mrs Trump’s two lawsuits against us, we have agreed to pay her damages and costs.”
