Prince Andrew’s ex-girlfriend Koo Stark wins lawsuit against Daily Mail

Prince Andrew’s former girlfriend Koo Stark won a lawsuit after an article wrongly referred to her as a “porn star”.

Prince Andrew’s former girlfriend Koo Stark will receive “substantial damages” from the Daily Mail after an article wrongly referred to her as a “porn star”.

The American photographer, 66, filed a lawsuit against the outlet’s publisher Associated Newspapers as well as former editor and deputy editor, Geordie Greig and Gerard Greaves - over a November 2019 story in the paper, Sky News UK reported.

Ms Stark, who also worked as an actress, was in a relationship with The Duke of York in the early 1980s.

The piece referred to Andrew as a “Duke of Hazard” with “very shady friends” and featured a photo of Stark from the film The Awakening of Emily captioned “The prince and the porn star”.

It also referred to the Prince having had “an astonishing relationship with a soft porn actress”.

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Koo Stark was in a relationship with Prince Andrew in the early 1980s.

Ms Stark’s lawyer, Francis Leonard, said the words suggested she was a “porn actress who has made her living participating in films which are made for distribution in the pornographic market”.

“The true position is that Ms Stark has never appeared in a pornographic film or posed for pornographic photographs,” he said.

“None of her work could properly be described as pornographic or indeed as ‘very shady’.

“In particular, the film The Awakening Of Emily is a coming-of-age drama and not a pornographic film.”

Mr Leonard said the article was also published on the MailOnline website but was amended just over nine hours later to correct the reference to Stark. All references to her were then removed in 2021.

He continued: “The defendant’s publication of the article and the false statements about her caused the claimant very considerable distress and upset.

“The defendant has accepted that the article’s reference to Ms Stark was defamatory and without justification … The defendant has agreed to pay the claimant substantial damages.”

Ms Stark will receive “substantial damages” from the Daily Mail after an article wrongly referred to her as a “porn star”. Picture: Supplied

Gemma McNeil-Walsh, lawyer for the Mail’s parent company said: “The defendant through me offers its sincere apologies to the claimant for the distress, embarrassment and upset caused to her by the publication of the Daily Mail article.

“The defendant accepts there was and is no truth in the allegation advanced about the claimant and is happy to set the record straight.”

An apology was also published in Friday’s Daily Mail print edition and the MailOnline.

Judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice said: “I note the very full apology, the payment of substantial damages and this statement.

“Ms Stark is entitled to consider herself, and be considered as, fully vindicated.”

According to the Press Gazette, Ms Stark previously received substantial damages from both the men’s magazine Zoo and the owner of MTV’s entertainment news website after she was wrongly labelled as a “porn star”.