Melania Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Daily Mail and Tarpley, a Maryland based blog, over a story questioning her employment in the 1990s.
On Thursday, the 46-year-old wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump filed a $150 million dollar lawsuit with the Maryland Circuit Court, according to CNN. Trump accuses both of writing “false” and defamatory statements stemming from an article dated back on August 19th, titled “Naked photoshoots, and troubling questions about visas that won’t go away: The very racy past of Donald Trump’s Slovenian wife,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. (RELATED: How Donald Trump Responded After The Post Published A Nude Photo Of Melania)
(Photo: Getty Images)
“These defendants made several statements about Mrs. Trump that are 100% false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation,” Trump’s attorney Charles Harder wrote in a statement. “Defendants broadcast their lies to millions of people throughout the U.S. and the world–without any justification. Their many lies include, among others, that Mrs. Trump supposedly was an ‘escort’ in the 1990s before she met her husband.” (RELATED: Melania Trump Threatens Legal Action Against Daily Mail And Other Outlets)
“Defendants’ actions are so egregious, malicious and harmful to Mrs. Trump that her damages are estimated at $150 million dollars,” he added.
“Plaintiff did legitimate and legal modeling work for legitimate business entities and did not work for any ‘gentleman’s club’ or ‘escort’ agencies,” Harder wrote in the lawsuit. “Plaintiff was not a sex worker, escort or prostitute in any way, shape or form, nor did she ever have a composite or presentation card for the sex business.”
Two other outlets that had published similar articles based off The Daily Mail’s report have since issued retractions and an apology for original story.
The Daily Mail retracted their story about Trump following the filing of the lawsuit. In a lengthy retraction from the company they wrote that they “regret” any “misinterpretation” of the story.
“To the extent that anything in the Daily Mail’s article was interpreted as stating or suggesting that Mrs. Trump worked as an ‘escort’ or in the ‘sex business,’ that she had a ‘composite or presentation card for the sex business,’ or that either of the modeling agencies referenced in the article were engaged in these businesses, it is hereby retracted, and the Daily Mail newspaper regrets any such misinterpretation.”
UPDATE: The original story did not include the retraction by The Daily Mail as it did not occur until after the story published.