Daily Mail pays Melania Trump damages over libel

British court awards the first lady $3 million for hurt caused to her "personal integrity and dignity" and for the loss of business opportunities.

First Lady Melania Trump pictured at the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US on February 4, 2017. Carlos Barria / REUTERS

LONDON // Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper on Wednesday apologised to America’s first lady, Melania Trump, and agreed to pay her damages over an article that included allegations that she worked as an escort in the 1990s.

“The defendant is here today publicly to set the record straight, and to apologise to the claimant for any distress and embarrassment that the articles may have caused her,” Catrin Evans, the lawyer for Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and MailOnline, told the High Court in London.

Although the total amount of damages was not disclosed, the Press Association news agency said it was believed to be under $3 million (2.8 million euros).

John Kelly, Melania Trump’s lawyer, said the article in the Daily Mail — Britain’s second biggest-selling newspaper — in print and online in August last year “included false and defamatory claims”.

The allegations “questioned the nature of her work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modelling.”

The article, which carried the headline “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump,” stated that there was no support for the allegations and provided denials from her spokesperson and from Paolo Zampolli, who ran the modelling agency where she worked.

But the allegations “strike at the heart of the claimant’s personal integrity and dignity,” said Mr Kelly.

Mrs Trump’s lawyers launched a lawsuit against the Daily Mail in September in New York, asking for $150 million in damages. The paper had already published a retraction in September, saying it “did not intend to state or suggest that these allegations are true”.

In documents filed in February, the US first lady said that because of the Daily Mail’s allegations she and her brand had missed out on “multiple millions of dollars” in licensing, marketing and endorsement opportunities that would otherwise have been available to someone spending time as “one of the most photographed women in the world”.

She said the publication had prevented her from reaping the “once-in-a-lifetime” windfall to be had as a business lady married to the new US president, Donald Trump.

The tabloid published an apology on its website after the court hearing. The statements, apologies and payouts settle both the British and US lawsuits.

* Agence France-Presse