'Guilty' Ex-Playboy Model Once Apologized to Melania for Her Alleged Affair With Donald Trump

After claiming to have had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and 2007, former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal once expressed regret to Melania Trump. In an interview in 2018 with CNN, McDougal told Anderson Cooper expressing her remorse at the time, "What can you say except, I’m sorry? I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want it done to me, I’m sorry."

According to McDougal, she felt "guilty, very guilty" when Trump once walked her around his Trump Tower apartment in New York, pointing to Melania's room. She said, "Going through it when I look back where I was back then, I know it’s wrong, I am really sorry for that. I know it’s the wrong thing to do. There was a real relationship there. There were real feelings between the two of us, not just myself, not just him … Deep inside, I did have a lot of guilt but I still continued." The ex-preschool instructor said that she had considered getting married to him. Regarding Trump, she thought he had a genuine affection for her. After their sexual encounter, McDougal said that Trump attempted to compensate her. She added, "After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn’t know how to take that. “I don’t even know how to describe the look on my face. It must have been so sad. That’s not me. I’m not that kind of girl."

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, McDougal demanded that the National Enquirer's parent company publicly acknowledge her silence regarding the alleged 2006 tryst. She claimed to have been paid $150,000 for her story about the former president's 10-month relationship but did not publish it. She is the second woman who was allegedly paid to conceal an alleged romance with Trump by those close to him, just before the presidential election. Additionally, McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels arranged their settlements via lawyer Keith Davidson. In her lawsuit, McDougal claims that Davidson was conspiring with Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney, to keep her silent. The New Yorker article that claimed Trump and McDougal had a consensual sexual relationship initially revealed the details of the alleged romance. 

According to McDougal, she is a 'die-hard Republican' who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential contest. Initially, the former Playboy model was reluctant to share her experience. She said in the interview, "I voted for the President. I voted for Donald. Why would I want to damage him? That’s my party, the Republican Party. That’s my president. I did not want to damage him or hurt him in any way, shape or form, but I also didn’t want to put out the story because I didn’t want my reputation to be damaged." McDougal, believed going into the agreement with American Media Inc. would benefit both parties. She might start a new profession writing health and fitness pieces and her account about her alleged romance with Trump would not be made public. However, McDougal claimed the business was "not fulfilling what they promised me" and only paid her around half of the $150,000 they owed her after signing the contract in August 2016. She offered to return the money, according to McDougal, "just to have my story rights back."

This article was originally published on 03.10.24.