Keira Knightley wins lawsuit with U.K. tabloid
Last Updated: Friday, May 25, 2007 | 9:49 AM ET
The Associated Press
Keira Knightley has accepted a $6,500 settlement in her libel claim against a British tabloid over a story that suggested she was to blame for the death of an anorexic teenager.
The actress, who starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Pride and Prejudice, said the story falsely suggested that she had an eating disorder.
Actress Keira Knightley at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in June 2006.
(Matt Sayles/Associated Press)
In January, the Daily Mail published a photo of Knightley in a bikini with the headline: "If pictures like this one of Keira carried a health warning, my darling daughter might have lived."
Knightley's lawyer, Simon Smith, told a London court on Thursday the article could be interpreted to say that she was personally responsible for the death of Sophie Mazurek, 19, who had suffered from anorexia.
Kate Wilson, representing the publisher of the Daily Mail, said the newspaper accepted that Knightley was not responsible for a death, and that Knightley "does not have an eating disorder, and has not misled the public."
Knightley, who was not in court, intends to donate the settlement to Beat, an eating disorder and mental illness charity.
