Kidman wins damages from 'Telegraph'

Nicole Kidman has won an apology and "substantial" libel damages from The Daily Telegraph over an article alleging that the actress preferred a rival brand of perfume to that for which she is the advertising "face", Chanel No5.

The Australian actress had sued the Telegraph over the story last month in the paper's Spy gossip column, which said she had been promoting her "favourite perfume", Jo Malone, in front of journalists while at the premiere of her film The Golden Compass.

The column has printed an apology accepting the claim was "entirely untrue". The court heard that the "source" for the story had invented it.

"The article also falsely claimed that, despite having signed a multi-million pound contract with Chanel, the claimant was openly promoting a competitor's product and 'kept dabbing the Jo Malone perfume on whenever she had a moment'," Kidman's lawyer, John Kelly, told the High Court in London. He pointed out that the Spy column had not put the claims to Kidman or her representatives prior to publication. "Had the defendant done so it would have been informed of their utter falsity," he said.

The Telegraph's lawyer, David Price, apologised and said the paper "accepts that the allegations are untrue".