Karen McDougal (pictured in 2010) claims that American Media executives and her own lawyer pressured her into accepting $150,000 in exchange for exclusive rights to the story of her romantic relationship with Donald Trump. | Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Former Playboy model sues for freedom to speak about Trump

A former Playboy model who claims she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump sued the National Enquirer’s parent company Tuesday seeking to void a contract that prevents her from speaking publicly about it.

Karen McDougal, who filed her complaint against tabloid publisher American Media Inc. in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that American Media executives and her own lawyer pressured her into accepting $150,000 in exchange for exclusive rights to the story of her romantic relationship with Trump, which she says took place more than a decade ago. The contract, finalized in 2016 after Trump had won the Republican nomination for president, also promised that McDougal would appear on two magazine covers and gave her a deal to write two years of feature articles.


“Ms. McDougal thought (naively) that such a deal could give her the best of all worlds--her private story could stay private, she could make some money, and she could revitalize her career,” her lawsuit states. “What she did not realize was that she would end up treated as a puppet by powerful men colluding to achieve their own financial and political ends.”

McDougal is the second woman seeking to be released from hush-money deals that require them to keep quiet about affairs they had with Trump before he was elected president. The claims have prompted a federal inquiry into possible campaign finance violations and could pose a mounting legal threat to the president.

The suit claims that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and a former attorney for the Trump Organization, was secretly involved in crafting the agreement with American Media to keep details of McDougal’s 10-month relationship with Trump out of the press at a critical time in the campaign.

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McDougal, whose claims were the subject of a long article published in February by The New Yorker, also contends that the Enquirer had no intention of publishing her story and rather paid for the rights as part of a practice known as “catch and kill” intended to stop stories that cast Trump in a negative light from being published.

David Pecker, chairman and chief executive officer of American Media, has called Trump a “personal friend.”

“AMI lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me,” McDougal said in a written statement. “I just want the opportunity to set the record straight and move on with my life, free from this company, its executives, and its lawyers.” The lawsuit, which doesn’t name Trump as a defendant, accuses American Media of fraud and asks the court to declare the agreement void.

A spokesperson for American Media said Tuesday that McDougal was “free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with the president.”

“Karen signed a contract that gave AMI the editorial discretion to publish her life story, and she promised to write health and fitness columns and appear on the cover of two magazines,” the spokesperson added. “AMI has a valid contract with Karen and we look forward to reaching an amicable resolution satisfactory to her and to AMI.”

The White House did not respond to request for comment.

McDougal’s lawsuit is the third legal complaint to center on Trump’s behavior with women.

Former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos last year accused Trump of sexually harassing her in 2007 and sued him for defamation. On Tuesday, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge allowed a defamation lawsuit against Trump to move forward. Justice Jennifer Schecter wrote that a “sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts,” citing precedent that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.

And McDougal’s lawsuit lands just days before Stormy Daniels is scheduled to appear on 60 Minutes. Daniels, a porn actress whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, also had a relationship with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Two weeks before Trump was elected, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about the affair. Daniels filed suit earlier this month seeking to void that contract, naming Trump as a defendant.

The Federal Election Commission has opened an inquiry into Cohen’s payment after government watchdog complaints that it could amount to an illegal campaign donation.