Melania Trump settles lawsuits

Melania Trump and the Daily Mail have settled two libel lawsuits over an article that suggested the first lady may have once worked as an escort.

The British tabloid’s parent company, Mail Media, apologized to Trump and agreed to pay damages over an article titled “Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife’s past that could derail Trump,” which was published in August amid her husband Donald Trump’s heated run for the White House.

The story, which was later retracted, “questioned the nature of (Mrs. Trump’s) work as a professional model, and republished allegations that she provided services beyond simply modeling,” the publication said in a statement.

Though it included statements of denial about the allegations and noted that there was no evidence to support the allegations, the story also claimed that she may have met her future husband “three years before they actually met, and ‘staged’ their actual meeting as a ‘ruse.’ ”

Melania Trump filed lawsuits against the newspaper in London and against its Mail Online website in New York, seeking compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150 million. She argued that the article damaged her ability to build businesses based on her status as a well-known figure and “successful businesswoman,” according to the Associated Press.

The Mail acknowledged that “these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true” and apologized for any distress that the publication caused her.

The parties announced their settlement in a joint statement Wednesday. The exact amount of the settlement has not been disclosed.