Score one for the Beckhams.
David and Victoria Beckham, the U.K.'s answer to Brangelina, have reached an out of court settlement in their libel suit against British tabloid News of the World over allegations their marriage was a sham.
The superstar duo received undisclosed damages from the tab over a September 2004 article entitled "Posh and Becks on Rocks," which claimed the spouses were pretending to be happily married for the purpose of financial gain.
"The defamation proceedings brought by David and Victoria Beckham against the News of the World have been resolved on a confidential basis," the couple's spokeswoman Jo Milloy said in a statement, refusing to discuss any of the settlement's terms.
In October, lawyers the supercouple took the tabloid to task for alleging their marriage was a "cynical and hypocritical" lie and that they kept up appearances of a perfect union to fool the public, preserve their image and maintain the financial viability of "Brand Beckham."
The article also claimed that the couple engaged in a series of knock-down drag-out fights that brought a philandering Becks to the edge of a nervous breakdown and threatened the former Spice Girl's health during her third pregnancy. The tabloid further alleged that while Victoria presented herself to the public as the very image of a loyal wife, in private she was reportedly insulting and disloyal to her heartthrob hubby.
While the Beckhams vehemently denied the allegations, News of the World publisher Richard Spearman stood by the claims and said his defense against the libel charges would be justification--that the story was true.
So much for that.
"The defamation proceedings brought by David and Victoria Beckham against the News of the World have been resolved on a confidential basis," Stuart Kuttner, the newspaper's managing editor, said in a statement. "There will be no further comment."
The case was due to be tried in London's High Court last December, but after several false starts and postponements, was rescheduled for June, allowing for England's soccer captain to perform in the World Cup before the trial kicked off.
The settlement is just one in a long line of libel suits the Beckhams have filed over the years, as their marriage is the most covered and most speculated-on relationship in England.
Claims of infidelity have long plagued the duo, as evidenced most recently by a separate libel suit filed against Britain's People tabloid (no relation to the U.S. magazine) over similar claims.
The couple accepted "substantial" but, per usual, undisclosed damages and a public apology from the newspaper last summer after the rag alleged the soccer player had placed hate calls to his children's former nanny, retaliation, they claimed for her selling stories of the couple to News of the World.