Karen McDougal Released From Contract Barring Her From Speaking About Alleged Trump Affair

While much of the world focuses on Stormy Daniels, a second woman who claims to have had an affair with Trump is now free to tell all too.

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal on Wednesday announced she and American Media Inc.—which owns the pro-Trump National Enquirer tabloid—had reached an agreement to end a contract that prevented her from speaking out about her alleged encounter with the president. (Technically, she already has discussed it, but now she can’t get sued for doing so.) McDougal initially signed over the exclusive rights to her story to AMI in 2016 in exchange for $150,000. The company never ran McDougal’s story.

According to the New York Times, the agreement announced Wednesday will allow McDougal to keep the money she received from the 2016 contract, while AMI will receive up to $75,000 from any eventual profits she makes as a result of going public.

“It’s a total win,” McDougal’s lawyer Peter Stris said. “We got everything we were fighting for. She got out of the contract, gets the life rights back and owes A.M.I. nothing more.”

News of the agreement comes on the same day that Trump made a rare public acknowledgement of the Stormy Daniels case. He retweeted a picture of the man Daniels and her attorney claim threatened the adult film actress to remain silent about the alleged affair. Trump called the man “nonexistent” and claimed the case was “a total con job.”

It remains to be seen where McDougal’s newfound freedom will lead. As she explained to the Times, “It’s one step at a time for me. Today, I’m doing my victory dance.”

 
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