The Daily Mail newspaper has agreed to pay damages and costs to the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump over an article published last summer.
The article in question refers to Melania’s modelling career, and makes allegations that the first lady used to work as an escort. The article also referenced to how Melania and Donald Trump had originally met, claiming they met prior to when the public has been led to believe.
She filed a lawsuit against the publication in February, seeking damages of $150m (£120m). Reports have suggested that she received closer to $3 million in damages, but the official amount remains undisclosed.
The statement, from Trump’s solicitor John Kelly, addressed the court: “The allegations strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity. The claimant has not acted as alleged. The suggestion that such allegations even merit investigation is deeply offensive and has caused a great deal of upset to the claimant.”
He added: “The article occupied a double-page spread with the headline printed in large bold font over one-third of page 15. The article was illustrated with an old photograph of the claimant standing naked with her front against a wall but her face turned towards the camera…Readers of the newspaper could not fail to miss the article.”
As required in the settlement, The Daily Mail published an apology and retraction on its home page. The apology 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.”
