Melania Trump Sues Daily Mail In NYC For Calling Her A Sex Worker, Ruining Her 'Brand'

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — After her $150 million libel lawsuit against the Daily Mail was tossed out by a Maryland judge last week, Melania Trump, forever 5th Avenue resident and America's newly minted FLOTUS, is trying a new venue: Manhattan Supreme Court.

The new suit, filed Monday, argues that a Daily Mail article posted online last August, which claimed Melania worked as a "high end escort" during her New York modeling days in the 1990s, completely derailed her "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to build a multimillion-dollar product line while her husband is in office — and while, as a result, Melania herself "is one of the most photographed women in the world."

The first lady-themed product line would have included "among other things, apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care, skin care and fragrance," Melania's suit says.

But thanks to the Daily Mail story, that dream has died, the suit says.

The sex-worker allegations have caused such "tremendous harm" to Melania's "brand," the lawsuit argues, that her product line would be a flop.

Melania is being represented by Charles Harder — the same guy who helped wrestling star Hulk Hogan (and alleged shadow financier Peter Thiel, a big Donald Trump fan) take down Gawker last summer.

Before marrying Trump, then-Melania Knauss, a native of Slovenia, worked in Milan and NYC as a model. She has denied she was ever paid for sex.

The Daily Mail story at the center of Melania's lawsuit, however, claimed — sourcing the work of other journalists and authors — that her modeling career was a "ruse"; that her agency in Milan was "something like a gentleman's club"; and that her agency in New York "operated as an escort agency for wealthy clients."

The story also called into question the timing and nature of Melania's first encounter with The Donald. It claimed she met him in 1995, during her risqué nude-modeling — and, allegedly, escorting — days, while Trump was still married to a previous wife. The first couple maintains they met in 1998.

"Mail Online entertained conscious doubts that the defamatory statements in the Article were true, but still published them anyway," Melania's suit claims.

Another, similar lawsuit on behalf of the first lady is currently playing out in Maryland court against a local blogger who aggregated the escort story. More on that suit here.

Below, read the Manhattan lawsuit in full.