Karen McDougal Settles for Amicable Agreement With AMI on Controversial Trump Exposé
Ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal has reached an agreement with tabloid news company American Media Inc. regarding the contract they made about her alleged affair with Donald J. Trump.
On Wednesday, the two parties agreed upon a settlement that allows McDougal to freely talk about her said affair with the current president to other media outlets.
The former Playboy Playmate filed a lawsuit against A.M.I., the owner of The National Enquirer, demanding to be released from the contract that barred her from speaking about what happened in 2006. In 2016, A.M.I. acquired the rights to her story, but it was never published. McDougal reportedly agreed to the deal in exchange for $150,000 and use of the company's magazines to promote her career as a fitness specialist.
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McDougal claimed that A.M.I's chairman, David J. Pecker, tricked her into signing the contract to protect his old friend, President Trump. Trump's personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, was also allegedly heavily involved in the deal in order to protect his client's prospects in the presidential election in 2016.
A.M.I. denied the allegations, even announcing in March that they would fight McDougal and that it would be asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to dismiss the lawsuit. In a recent statement, the company announced that they had an amicable resolution with the ex-Playboy model.
In the settlement, A.M.I. has the rights to about $75,000 of any future revenues from her "affair" story and retain possession of McDougal's photographs that it has. In exchange, she will get to keep the $150,000 original payment. She is also promised a magazine cover and feature article in the future, as well as spots in the company's publications to publish several of her fitness columns. Her lawyer, Peter K. Stris, said in an interview that it was a total win. He specified that they got what they were fighting for and that her client does not owe anything to A.M.I. anymore.
McDougal made headlines in February when she claimed to have sold her story about her nine-month-long affair with Trump to a tabloid company. They allegedly met in 2006 when he taped an episode of his reality television show, "The Apprentice," at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Publisher Hugh Hefner threw a party, where a bunch of old and new Playmates, including McDougal, attended. By this time, Trump was said to be married to then Slovenian model Melania Knauss for two years. McDougal asserted that when they met, he took a liking to her that even an executive of the Playmate Promotions could not help but notice.
The ex-model allegedly met Trump during golf tournaments. She was said to have joined him at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship held at the Edgewood Resort, Lake Tahoe in July 2006. McDougal was also supposedly present in a different California golf event, where Tiger Woods purportedly took notice of her and asked Trump who she was.
A White House spokesperson denied all allegations, reiterating that McDougal's story was nothing but fake news. According to the aide, Trump never had any relationship with the former Playmate.
