Former Playmate details affair in 2006 with Trump
A former Playmate, who says she has been emboldened by the #MeToo movement and declining health, has confirmed to The New Yorker that she authored an eight-page, handwritten document about her alleged affair with Donald Trump that the magazine said was quietly buried by the National Enquirer after it bought the exclusive rights to the story.
The deal, which netted Karen McDougal $82,500, has prevented her from discussing the alleged relationship with Trump.
McDougal, who was judged runner-up for “Playmate of the ’90s,” allegedly met Trump in 2006 at the Playboy mansion after Trump had been married to Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years.
She spoke to Ronan Farrow, who has written recently about sexual abuse in Hollywood, but was circumspect about details regarding Trump. She acknowledged, however, that she wrote the account of the alleged affair, which Farrow said he obtained from John Crawford, a friend of McDougal.
The Wall Street Journal, four days before the 2016 presidential election, reported that American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid $150,000 for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran. Buying the rights to a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call “catch and kill.”
A White House spokesperson said that Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal.