In November 2016, McDougal signed a publishing rights contract with American Media, Inc., to share her story about the affair.
WASHINGTON — Karen McDougal, former Playboy Playmate who grew up in Michigan is suing the company who bought the rights to her story about an alleged affair with President Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.
McDougal, who grew up in Sawyer, MI and lived in the state until the late 1990s when her modeling career took off. She claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 after she met him while he was filming an episode of « The Apprentice » at the Playboy Mansion.
In November 2016, McDougal signed a publishing rights contract with American Media, Inc., to share her story about the affair. However, no articles about the alleged affair have been published by American Media and now McDougal is suing to be released from a clause in the contract requiring her silence on the issue.
American Media is the parent company of the tabloid magazine The National Enquirer.
Knowledge of the affair became public last month when The New Yorker published a story featuring McDougal where she confirmed letters she’d written to a friend about the alleged affair were authentic. Those letter were written long before she signed a contract with American Media.
In the letter, McDougal says after she and Trump began a physical relationship shortly after they met and he offered to pay her, but she declined. She would then fly to events all over the country to see Trump and continue the affair.
She would pay for her own flights, hotel and travel accommodations but Trump would then reimburse her for the costs. McDougal says Trump did not want to leave a paper trail of their meet ups.
McDougal says she ended the relationship nine months after it began. Trump was married at the time to his current wife Melania. The White House has declined to comment on the alleged affair.
