The Daily Mail apologized and has agreed to pay damages to first lady Melania Trump to settle a libel suit over a report that made false claims about her modeling career, according to a report Wednesday.
The article, published last summer, included “false and defamatory claims about [Trump] which questioned the nature of her work as a professional model and republished allegations that she provides services beyond simply modeling,” according to a statement read aloud in London’s High Court, the Guardian reported.
The 46-year-old former model sued the news outlet’s publisher in Britain, and also filed a $150 million suit against it in the Big Apple, claiming the article cost her millions in potential business.
A source told Reuters the settlement was worth less than $3 million, including legal costs and damages.
The Daily Mail issued a retraction two weeks after the report was published but did not issue an apology with it.
The statement published early Wednesday online and headlined “Melania Trump — An Apology” reads in part: “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.”
It continues: “We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them. We apologize 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.”