Lily Allen Still Raking It In for Not Smack-Talking the Beckhams

Brit singer wins damages and another apology from tabloid that ran with alleged cheap shots against David and Victoria

By Gina Serpe Oct 07, 2010 2:22 PMTags
Lily Allen, Victoria BeckhamMike Marsland/Getty Images; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

And here we thought restraint was just a charming national characteristic of the English, not a lucrative side business. Particularly not when it comes from Lily Allen.

But it's proving to be just that for the singer, as more than a year after not calling Victoria Beckham a "monster," David Beckham "stupid" and the Beckhams as a whole "sickening," the acid-tongued yet newly softened (and pregnant!) Allen continues to rake in damages from tabloids that ran with the allegations even after her initial denial.

So whose turn was it this time?

So Foot, the French football soccer-themed magazine that reprinted the allegations, but not Lily's denial at ever having uttered the offensive "rubbish."

In London High Court this morning, Allen's lawyer Mark Thomson relayed the publishers' message that they now acknowledge the quotes were made up and agreed to pay unspecified damages to the pop star.

"[So Foot] now accepts…no interview in fact ever took place," a statement read out in court proclaimed, adding that the magazine "offers its sincere apologies...for the damage, as well as the upset and embarrassment caused to her by the publication of the article."

Thomson said during the brief hearing that the 25-year-old's "reputation has been vindicated."

And not for the first time. Last fall, just a few months after the cheap-shot quotes first surfaced, The Sun offered up a public apology and retraction on their original story (which they had sourced from So Foot) and coughed up roughly $16,000 to Allen for the PR inconvenience.

Nice gig if you can get it.