Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, is suing to be able to speak openly about an alleged affair she had with Donald Trump. In 2016, she signed a legal agreement that prevented her from speaking about the affair, and now she's suing to get out of that contract, per The New York Times.
The National Inquirer's parent company, American Media Inc. (A.M.I.), paid McDougal $150,000, in an agreement that prevented her from going elsewhere with her story. A.M.I. is known for buying the rights to people's stories when they may impact friends of their CEO David J. Pecker and then never publishing said stories, the Times reports. This method is called "catch and kill."
McDougal's legal complaint alleges that she didn't know about this practice when she signed the agreement shortly after Trump secured the Republican nomination, nor did she know that Peck and Trump were friends. She says she felt pressured to tell her story in 2016 because someone had hinted at the affair on social media, so a mutual friend connected her with her now-former attorney, Keith Davidson. He arranged an interview for her with A.M.I's chief content officer and told her that A.M.I. would put $500,000 in an escrow account for her before the interview, and "a seven-figure publishing contract awaited her," the complaint reads.
McDougal gave her interview and found out a few days later the publication didn't want to buy her story, and her lawyer told her there was no money in escrow after all. Then, in the summer of 2016, A.M.I. showed renewed interest in McDougal's story — at this point, she was talking with ABC News about it (it's unclear how A.M.I. became aware of these negotiations). A.M.I. made a new deal, offering her $150,000 for her story even though they weren't going to publish it. Davidson told her this when they made her the offer, and he encouraged her to sign the contract.
A spokesperson for Davidson said that he "fulfilled his obligations and zealously advocated for McDougal to accomplish her stated goals at that time," but that commenting any more about the matter would "violate attorney-client privilege."
McDougal was approached by the New Yorker last month about the alleged affair, and A.M.I. blocked her from breaking her silence and threatened monetary consequences if she did, which is part of what prompted her legal complaint.
"The lawsuit filed today aims to restore her right to her own voice," her new lawyer Peter K. Stris said in an email to the Times. "We intend to invalidate the so-called contract that American Media Inc. imposed on Karen so she can move forward with the private life she deserves."
A.M.I. told the Times they didn't print McDougal's story because they couldn't verify certain facts. They also said in a statement that they look forward to "reaching an amicable resolution," with her, adding that, even though she gave the company "editorial discretion to publish her life story," she had been "free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with President Trump since 2016."
McDougal isn't the only one pursuing legal action against involving controversies about Trump's conduct with women. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on fifth season of Trump's reality show The Apprentice, sued Trump for defamation after she accused him of sexual harassment following her stint on the show, and he called her a "liar." The decision allows for other women to testify in the case and for documents to be subpoenaed. "It is settled that the president of the United States has no immunity and is 'subject to the laws' for purely private acts," the judge said when ruling.
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