LONDON – The UK’s Daily Mail and Mail Online will pay damages to settle a libel claim brought against them by the US first lady, Melania Trump, over an article about her modelling career.
The newspaper had reported allegations that Melania Trump once worked as an escort, but later retracted its article.
The story was published during the US election campaign last year.
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), over ‘false and defamatory claims’ that as a model she ‘provided services beyond simply modelling’
An agreed statement was read out to Justice Nicol in court 14 of the Royal Courts of Justice on behalf of both parties. Trump will be paid damages, but the amount was not disclosed.
The original Daily Mail story was published on 20 August 2016 under the headline “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump”.
