FREE NEWS LINKS
HOME SEARCH
Updates & changes ongoing ....
---- Although this site is https-secure, we cannot guarantee that it or any provided links are safe; be sure your antivirus and other security systems are up to date.
Also see: Sexual Allegations; Women; lawsuits; insults;
Undated: Karen McDougal (born March 23, 1971) is an American model and actress. She is known for her appearances in Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month for December 1997[1] and Playmate of the Year of 1998.[3] In 2001, the readers of Playboy voted McDougal the runner-up of "The sexiest Playmate of the 1990s".[4]
McDougal taught pre-kindergarten before winning a swimwear competition that launched her career as a glamour, promotional, and swimsuit model. Since her appearances in Playboy, she has extended her career into a wide variety of appearances in mainstream media, including other magazine modeling, television commercials, and minor acting, with mixed success. She has been a successful fitness model, with multiple magazine appearances including being the first woman to appear on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. She starred in The Arena, a direct-to-video film, and inspired the creation of a fantasy art statuette and a doll.
McDougal is a fitness enthusiast, having since childhood engaged in ballet study and high school sports. She is an avid motorcycle and car collector. Since her Playmate days, she has maintained a largely private social life. The revelation of an alleged affair with Donald Trump from 2006–07 and its subsequent alleged coverup have put her into national headlines before and after the 2016 United States presidential election.
In November 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that McDougal had told her friend that she had an affair with a married Donald Trump from 2006 to 2007, with various sources quoting that it had lasted from ten months to a year. It also reported that American Media, Inc. (AMI), the owner of the National Enquirer, had paid McDougal $150,000 for exclusive rights to her story, but never published it. AMI stated to The Wall Street Journal that it had paid the amount to McDougal not "to kill damaging stories about" Trump, but for "exclusive life rights to any relationship she has had with a then-married man" and "two years’ worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers".[46][47] On June 20, 2016, Dylan Howard interviewed McDougal for several hours at the offices of her lawyer, Keith M. Davidson.[48] McDougal later met with investigative reporters from ABC News, which prompted American Media to offer to buy the rights to McDougal's story for $150,000 in August 5, 2016.[48]
The Wall Street Journal published the story four days before the 2016 United States presidential election, in which Trump was the Republican nominee. Trump was endorsed by the National Enquirer, and was friends with AMI CEO/Chairman David Pecker. Hope Hicks, speaking for the Trump campaign, denied the existence of an affair between Trump and McDougal, saying that the notion was "totally untrue."[49][50]
In February 2018, with Trump already elected as President, The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow wrote about the affair and AMI's purchase of the story, largely corroborating the 2016 Wall Street Journal report, except that the affair had gone on for nine months. The story was based on McDougal's handwritten memoirs of the affair, which McDougal's friend passed to Farrow. McDougal confirmed to Farrow that she had written the memoirs. Farrow quotes the memoirs as stating that McDougal first met Trump in June 2006 at a party hosted by Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. Trump kept in contact with McDougal, and they had sex on the first date. During the affair, she met members of his family and he promised to buy her an apartment in New York. To avoid "paper trails", Trump had McDougal pay for flight and hotel expenses when she flew to meet him, then he reimbursed her. McDougal ended the affair in April 2007 due to guilt and being offended by some of Trump's comments.[45][51][52]
McDougal declined to discuss details of the alleged affair due to her agreement with AMI, but she told Farrow that she regretted signing that agreement, saying, "It took my rights away... I don't know what I'm allowed to talk about. I'm afraid to even mention his name." Farrow also wrote that AMI CEO/Chairman David Pecker has a "favorite tactic" of buying "a story in order to bury it". AMI said it did not publish McDougal's story as it was not credible, and a spokesperson for the White House denied the affair.[45]
On March 22, 2018, McDougal was interviewed by Anderson Cooper on AC360 in which she detailed her alleged affair with Trump.[53][54] In the interview McDougal said that Trump tried to give her money after they first had sex. She also stated that their relationship lasted ten months and that she visited Trump "many dozens of times".[55][56]
In March 2018, McDougal filed a lawsuit against American Media, Inc. in Los Angeles Superior Court, aiming to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement.[57][58] On April 19, 2018, American Media, Inc. settled with McDougal; the settlement allows her to speak about the alleged affair.[59]
In July 2018, The New York Times reported that two months before the 2016 presidential election, Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had secretly recorded a conversation between him and Trump regarding paying McDougal. Another personal lawyer to Trump, Rudy Giuliani, said that Trump did not know of the recording, and gave two versions of the topic of conversation, saying firstly that the discussion was planning to pay McDougal directly, and secondly that it was about planning to pay American Media Inc. (AMI) for the rights to McDougal's story. This appeared to contradict a previous claim by Trump's campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks days before the election when she responded to the report by The Wall Street Journal about AMI's payment to McDougal that "we have no knowledge of any of this."[60]
On July 25, Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis released the actual recording to CNN, which played it on the air. On it, Trump and Cohen can be heard discussing how to make a payment for "all of that info regarding our friend David," interpreted as meaning AMI CEO/Chairman David Pecker. Trump is also heard asking if "one-fifty" needed to be paid, to which Cohen answered in the affirmative. McDougal was reportedly paid $150,000 by AMI.[61][62] Davis stated that Cohen "achieved independence" on July 2, 2018 and was ready to admit the truth at this point.[63][64]
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws, admitting paying hush money of $130,000 and $150,000 "at the direction of a candidate for federal office", to two women who alleged affairs with that candidate, "with the purpose of influencing the election". The figures match sums of payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and McDougal. Daniels has also alleged a 2006 affair with Trump.[65][66] Trump responded to Cohen's claims by saying he only knew about the payments "later on", and that he paid back Cohen personally, not out of campaign funds.[67] David Pecker (AMI CEO/Chairman and friend of Trump), Dylan Howard (AMI chief content officer) and Allen Weisselberg (chief financial officer of The Trump Organization) were reportedly granted witness immunity in exchange for their testimony regarding the illegal payments.[68][69]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_McDougal
Webpage visitor counts provided by
