Former
Playboy model
Karen McDougal has been released from a contract with
American Media Inc. that restricted her ability to openly discuss her alleged 2006 affair with President
Donald Trump.
McDougal reached a settlement with the publishing company on Wednesday, freeing her from a 2016 legal agreement with The National Enquirer. News of the affair broke in February when The New Yorker detailed an alleged attempt during Trump’s campaign to prevent McDougal from going public about the 2006 affair.
The magazine, owned by AMI, reportedly bought the exclusive rights to McDougal’s story for $150,000 and then spiked the article shortly before the presidential election in what is called a “catch and kill.”
AMI added an amendment to the contract after the election to allow McDougal to respond to legitimate news inquiries. The model filed a lawsuit in March to invalidate the contract, however, claiming that the agreement was created to silence and intimidate her.
“I am pleased to have reached a settlement with AMI on my own terms, which restores to me the rights to my life story and frees me from this contract that I was misled into signing nearly two years ago,” McDougal said in a statement to HuffPost.
AMI told HuffPost in a statement that the company “reached an amicable resolution with Karen today that provides both sides what they wanted as a result.”
The former model will be on the cover of the September issue of the AMI-owned Men’s Journal, which will include a feature-length article about her. AMI also will publish five fitness columns by McDougal, the publishing company told HuffPost. “AMI is maintaining a financial interest in any re-sale of an exclusive on Karen’s personal story,” AMI added.
AMI’s settlement with McDougal comes a week after the FBI seized material from Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen. The New York Times reported that investigators are examining Cohen’s legal agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump.
McDougal told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in March that after having sex with Trump, the president attempted to pay her for it. She also mentioned that Trump compared her to his daughter Ivanka, saying McDougal was “beautiful like her.”
The White House has denied that there was an affair.