Timberlake libel suit is settled

Singer Justin Timberlake on Wednesday accepted an apology and damages from a tabloid newspaper that falsely accused him of cheating on girlfriend Cameron Diaz with a British model.

The singer had filed a libel suit at London’s High Court over a July 2004 claim in the News of the World that he had a fling with model Lucy Clarkson.

Benjamin Beabey, lawyer for the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers Ltd., said Wednesday that the News of the World apologized “for the distress and embarrassment caused by this article. It entirely accepts that the allegations are without foundation.”

Timberlake’s lawyer, Simon Smith, said the publisher had agreed to pay “a substantial undisclosed sum as damages.” Clarkson had agreed to pay “a sum equal to what she agreed to receive from the News of the World for her story.