Matt LeBlanc can finally turn the page on "My Wild Night with a Stripper."
The Canadian woman who was suing him for defamation, claiming the actor totally mischaracterized their encounter at a Victoria, British Columbia, strip club in a 2005 National Enquirer article, has dropped her lawsuit against the former Friends star.
Neither LeBlanc's attorney, Michael Weinsten, nor the plaintiff's lawyer, Randolph Hammock, has commented on why Stephanie Stephens decided not to go through with the suit, which she had filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in August.
According to local wire reports, Weinsten had been planning to argue during a hearing set for Friday that LeBlanc was exercising his right to free speech when he told the Enquirer about how a night in June 2005 turned into "a personal nightmare" after he and his buddies "drank too much, and the situation got out of control."
LeBlanc, 39, told the tabloid Stephens approached him and took him to a private room for a lap dance, during which she was all over him.
"I was drinking, and she was crossing the line," LeBlanc said in the article. "She was in my face, pushing her breasts into me and grabbing my hands to go all over her body. She was telling me to caress her, and in my head, I'm thinking, What's going on?"
Per court documents, LeBlanc said he agreed to talk to the Enquirer only after Stephens sold them her version of the story for $60,000. His attorney also stated that Stephens' lawsuit was filed after the year-long statute of limitations had expired, noting in court papers that the article's publication date was Aug. 10, 2005, though she didn't sue until Aug. 22, 2006.
Meanwhile, Stephens has maintained that LeBlanc's tale was an attempt on his part to cover up more scandalous behavior.
She stated in her complaint that "all sexual contact between [him] and [her] took place in the privacy of Stephens' residence," not at the club, and that his interpretation of her so-called aggression "intentionally slandered her."
Stephens, who was seeking unspecified damages, said that the article—which never actually referred to her by name—caused her loss of wages, loss of earning capacity and general damages.
LeBlanc was married at the time of the alleged "wild night," a fact he also addressed in the Enquirer piece.
"It is not where a family man should be, and I know that," the erstwhile Joey player said, adding that he "got carried away with a dancer for a mad moment and am now paying the price of allowing myself to be lured into that position."
Four months after the racy story hit the stands, LeBlanc found himself in another awkward position, when he and his wife separated after nearly three years of marriage.
Melissa LeBlanc filed for divorce in March, and the two have since agreed to share custody of daughter Marina, who turns three in February.