Former Playboy model Karen McDougal has settled with tabloid publisher American Media Inc., ending a lawsuit over the rights to discuss the affair she claims to have had with Donald Trump a decade ago.
The settlement means that McDougal is free to discuss the alleged relationship since she is no longer bound by the contract with AMI, the parent company of National Enquirer which bought but never published McDougal’s story for $150,000 in the months before the 2016 presidential election. This is just one of two legal battles involving women who say they were paid to stay silent about accounts that would have embarrassed Trump in the final days of his campaign.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels is suing to break a confidentiality agreement about her own alleged affair with Trump, which also happened a decade ago. Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump attorney Michael Cohen, reports The Washington Post. McDougal and AMI’s settlement states that the tabloid is entitled to 10 percent of any profit McDougal makes from reselling the rights to her story within the year, with a maximum of $75,000. AMI also has the right to publish five health and fitness columns under McDougal’s byline and to feature her on the cover of Men’s Journal, reports The Post. McDougal and AMI must pay their own attorneys’ fees.
“My goal from the beginning was to restore my rights and not to achieve any financial gain, and this settlement does exactly that,” she said, according to The Post.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
