Dame Diana Rigg leaves court victorious from newspaper libel battle
22-Oct-2003 • Actor News
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Rigg, 65, won a £38,000 libel payout from two newspapers over stories calling her an "embittered woman" who was retiring from acting, report the BBC.
The ex-Bond girl whose character won Bond`s heart in the 1969 film, took action after articles appeared in the Daily Mail and Evening Standard.
She said the untrue claim that she had announced her retirement would harm her chances of working in the future.
And the report that she was bitter and "held British men in low regard" was also false, she said.
The contentious articles were published after Dame Diana gave an interview to promote the Children With Aids charity.
The Daily Mail article, published in September 2002, was headlined: "Diana Rigg attacks British men and announces her retirement."
It implied that the whole interview was about her private life, which was not the case, and that she had talked about her first marriage and the break-up of her second marriage.
Her lawyer Tom Amlot told the High Court in London: "Dame Diana was upset at the portrayal of her which quite wrongly suggested that she is an embittered woman and holds British men in low regard.
"She was also concerned that her professional reputation and ability to secure work would be damaged by the statement that she was retiring when she is not."
She is due to start rehearsals for the Tennessee Williams play Suddenly Last Summer in January.
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