MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell sued the Daily Mail for reporting he had a secret romance with actress Jane Krakowski, a claim they both deny.
“I started a lawsuit against [the Daily Mail],” Lindell announced during an interview with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on his War Room show Monday.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the filing, obtained by the Washington Examiner, Lindell seeks damages for the Daily Mail’s “thoroughly deceitful, dishonest and defamatory media article.”
“Defendants’ false and defamatory statements about Mr. Lindell have caused tremendous harm to his personal and professional reputation and prospective economic opportunities, as well as causing him significant humiliation and emotional distress,” the lawsuit says.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Daily Mail for comment.
Lindell, a pro-Trump television personality, announced last week he hired Charles Harder, the so-called “lawyer who killed Gawker” who has had previous entanglements with the Daily Mail, to represent him in such a case.
Lindell is gearing up for a lawsuit in response to a report that the British tabloid published Thursday, which claimed that the entrepreneur had a monthslong relationship with Krakowski, an actress and singer known for her roles in 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
“MyPillow CEO and beleaguered ‘Stop the Steal’ Trump champion Mike Lindell had a secret nine month romance with 30 Rock star Jane Krakowski, DailyMail.com can reveal,” claimed the article. The report detailed a fling marked by excesses, with the pair reportedly spending time at Krakowski’s Hamptons beach house.
“He sent flowers to her almost every week and champagne and bottles of different liquor,” an unnamed source told the Daily Mail.
Lindell, a rehabilitated alcoholic who founded the Lindell Recovery Network, took particular issue with this complaint.
“Defendants’ fabricated story that he showered Ms. Krakowski with gifts of ‘champagne and bottles of different liquor’ severely undermines Mr. Lindell’s hard-earned credibility, integrity and character in the field of addiction recovery as well as in religious communities,” read the legal complaint. “Mr. Lindell’s ability to succeed in this important effort have been severely impacted by Defendants’ wrongful actions.”
Lindell vehemently denies the report, as does Krakowski, who says she’s never even met the MyPillow CEO.
“[I’ve] never met the woman, never been in the West Village, and never been to the Hamptons,” Lindell told Bannon. “I’m learning what media outlets can do to hurt people and just make stuff up.”
The MyPillow CEO, who is reportedly considering a bid to become governor of his home state of Minnesota, told Bannon that the most damaging aspect of the account is the hit to his moral character.
“This has done terrible damage,” he said. “When you’re talking about MyPillow and, you know, the boycotts and all that stuff, that’s a little different [than] when you go after my integrity and you go after everything I stand for.”
