Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend Koo Stark wins 'substantial' damages after news story falsely referred to her as a 'porn star'

Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend has won her case against the Daily Mail, which was found to have wrongly called her a "porn star" in an article published in November 2019.

Koo Stark, an American actress who dated Andrew in the 1980s before his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, brought legal action over the piece, which also referred to Andrew as a "Duke of Hazard" with "very shady friends."

It also captioned a photo of Stark from the 1976 film The Awakening of Emily, in which Stark played the leading role, as "the prince and the porn star". The article referred to Andrew as having had "an astonishing relationship with a soft porn actress", referencing Stark's role in the film.

READ MORE: Inside Naomi Biden's historic White House wedding

In the period film, Stark played the title role of 17-year-old Emily, who "returns home from school in Switzerland. At her family estate in the English countryside, it seems everyone is trying to seduce her," according to IMDb. The Daily Mail characterised this role as pornographic, which Stark's lawyers refute.

"The words at issue meant, and would have been understood to mean, that the claimant is a porn actress who has made her living participating in films which are made for distribution in the pornographic market," Stark's lawyer, Francis Leonard, said.

"The true position is that Ms Stark has never appeared in a pornographic film or posed for pornographic photographs. 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."

READ MORE: How a flippant comment uncovered Nikita's incurable condition

Leonard added that the story was also published MailOnline, and the MailOnline version was edited over nine hours after publishing to amend the references to Stark, before all references to her were removed in 2021. Stark's case was also brought against the editor and deputy editor at the time, Geordie Greig and Gerard Greaves.

"The defendant's publication of the article and the false statements about her caused the claimant very considerable distress and upset," Leonard said.

"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."

READ MORE: Ticketmaster apologises as Taylor Swift Eras Tour nightmare investigated

The Daily Mail offered "its sincere apologies to the claimant for the distress, embarrassment and upset caused to her by the publication of the Daily Mail article," according to their lawyer.

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

In addition, an apology to Stark was published in Friday's print edition of the Daily Mail.

The judge overlooking the case, 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."

This is not the first time Stark has brought action over the Daily Mail and its associated companies, having previously brought a successful libel action against The Mail on Sunday in 1988 for a story titled, "Koo dated Andy after she wed", which was found to be untrue.