While President Trump only just broke his silence on his alleged affair with former adult film star Stormy Daniels, the former reality TV star’s alleged romp with an ex-Playboy model has not been a favorite Twitter topic as of late. Whether or not this changes, however, just encountered a new wrinkle as Karen McDougal has been officially (and legally) cleared to discuss the matter first detailed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker. McDougal herself has yet to say anything publicly, but that will surely change in the immediate future.
According to the New York Times, the news of the former model’s newfound freedom comes as a result of a settlement with American Media Inc., the parent company behind the National Enquirer, which McDougal sued in order to break her silence. The new settlement “ends [the] lawsuit… and protects the president from being drawn into a legal case involving efforts to buy the silence of women who had stories to tell about him during the 2016 campaign”:
Under the terms of Wednesday’s settlement, American Media has the right to up to $75,000 of any future profits from her story about the alleged affair, which Mr. Trump denies. According to her lawyer, Peter K. Stris, Ms. McDougal can keep the $150,000 payment and the publisher will retain the rights to photographs of her that it already has. American Media said that it also maintained the right to publish columns about Ms. McDougal.
McDougal’s attorney called the settlement “a total win,” adding that “we got everything we were fighting for — she got out of the contract, gets the life rights back and owes A.M.I. nothing more.” The former model, meanwhile, told the Times her “wild ride” was over and said she has no plans to sell the rights to her story to any other buyers. “It’s one step at a time for me,” she told the paper. “Today, I’m doing my victory dance.”
(Via New York Times)