U.S. actress
Teri Hatcher won substantial libel damages on Friday from a British newspaper that alleged she used a camper van outside her home to have sex with a series of men.
The "Desperate Housewives" star, 41, who first found fame as Lois Lane in the 1990s television show "The New Adventures of Superman", will also receive a public apology from Britain's Daily Sport tabloid which published the story.
"I have tolerated many ridiculous and fabricated lies and gossip in the tabloids," Hatcher, a Golden Globe winner, said in a statement after the case was settled at London's High Court.
"But when a story appeared about me, insinuating that I am an irresponsible and neglectful parent, I had to draw the line."
Her lawyer David Smith told the court that the article had appeared in the Sport on July 25 this year under the heading "Teri's Passion Wagon".
The story was accompanied by a picture of a smiling Hatcher standing next to the van accompanied by the caption: "Tasty Teri's old VW helps her with her sex drive."
Smith said Hatcher did own a camper van but that she used it to take her daughter on holiday.
The paper, known for its sensationalist stories, had agreed to publish a prominent front-page apology and to pay "very substantial" damages and to reimburse Hatcher's full legal costs, he added. There were no details available of the sums of money involved.
The Sport's lawyer David Hirst said the paper was sorry for the article "which they fully accept was entirely false".