Publisher apologizes to Atkinson
Actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson accepted undisclosed damages and a public apology Thursday from newspapers that had alleged he was suffering from depression and on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
The 49-year-old star of “The Black Adder” and “Mr. Bean” attended London’s High Court for the settlement of his libel action against Associated Newspapers over articles in the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail in December 2003 and January 2004.
Afterward, Atkinson told reporters that such reports were “indicative of a continuing sensationalizing and stigmatizing of the issue of mental health, and of the condition of depression in particular -- from which I am fortunate enough never to have suffered.”
He said he planned to give the money to a mental health charity.
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