A former Playboy model, who said she had an affair with President Donald Trump and was paid to keep quiet about it, settled a lawsuit Wednesday with the parent company of the National Enquirer.
Karen McDougal said the settlement with American Media Inc. "restores to me the rights to my life story and frees me from this contract that I was misled into signing nearly two years ago," she said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
Here are six things to know about McDougal and the settlement.
1- McDougal alleges she had a 10-month affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007 after he married Melania Trump, according to McDougal’s lawyers.
2- She sued American Media Inc., which bought her story for $150,000, then killed it. In a report by The New York Times, which reviewed the legal documents, her lawyers said she decided to pursue the lawsuit at the time because "she has become aware of the broad effort to silence and intimidate her and others."
3- McDougal made the original deal with AMI in 2016 to keep quiet about the alleged Trump affair after Trump became the Republican presidential nominee.
4- The settlement Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court gives McDougal back the right to her story, but allows AMI to collect up to $75,000 from any future profits she makes on the story about her and Trump.
5- Trump has denied having an affair with McDougal, even though during a recent interview with CNN, McDougal revealed intimate information about their time together, including what she saw during a tour of Trump's New York Trump Tower penthouse and about events where she met members of the Trump family.
6- McDougal is 47 years old. She was a Playboy Playmate in her late 20s, a Playmate of the month in 1997 and Playmate of the Year in 1998.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump denied the existence of a man portrayed in a sketch released by porn star Stormy Daniels, who said he warned her to stop discussing claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump. Daniels is fighting a 2016 non-disclosure agreement arranged by Trump’s personal attorney, in which she was paid hush money to stay silent about their alleged affair in 2006. On Tuesday, she and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, released a sketch of a man whom she said had threatened her in 2011.
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