After articles about them surfaced in the Daily Mail during their 2003 divorce, Sadie Frost told the High Court that her ex-husband Jude Law had thought she was leaking information to the media.
In her complaint, Ms. Frost argues that 11 stories about her that were published were obtained by Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) through illegal information collecting. The 60-year-old actor is suing ANL for voicemail hacking and leaking private information, joining Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, politician Sir Simon Hughes, and actress Liz Hurley.
She was divorcing the other actor at the time, and she said in court that she was aware that certain stories originated from conversations that were “hacked from my voicemails, and I know that 100 per cent.”
“You have to be very careful about the words you use in voicemails,” she warned. “I would be really specific in what I said. I realized that many of the articles were about my voicemails to Jude [Law] because of this.
The actress told the High Court, “It’s terrible to have the man you love think you’re leaking stories.” “Coparenting was really challenging during the many years that our relationship was destroyed.”
In a contentious conversation, Ms. Frost called it “disgusting” that her parents were singled out by Daily Mail reporters, with her mother knocking on her door and her ailing father being contacted in the hospital.
The actor said the trial “takes you back to such a horrible time” and apologized for getting upset.
As she recalled a 2002 incident that was covered by the media about her then two-year-old daughter discovering an ecstasy tablet at a Soho venue, she broke down in tears on the witness stand.
She claims, “I was alone, distressed, and trying to be a good mother; I wasn’t with any friends.”
The court was emotionally informed by the story, which contained a comment that she claims must have been taken over the phone: “This has been on my poor girl Iris’s life forever… it’s just so humiliating… it just made me so ill.”
The claimants’ attorney, David Sherborne, stated last week that writer Katie Nicholl of the Mail on Sunday authored a draft article that included information about Ms. Frost that “not even her sisters or mother knew about.”
According to him, Ms. Frost suffered an unanticipated ectopic pregnancy with her then-boyfriend Jackson Scott in late 2003, necessitating surgery at a private hospital.
According to Mr. Sherborne, only Mr. Scott and “possibly her closest friends” were aware of the pregnancy. “Ms. Nicholl recorded all of this in the draft article,” he said.
“Unless they had access to her voicemail or medical records, how did they know she was treated?” the barrister went on.
“I was going through a divorce which was difficult enough without a story like this coming out,” Ms. Frost stated in a witness statement for the trial.
She expressed to the court that she was “shocked and appalled” that doctors had obtained her medical information. “Oh my goodness, never,” she said in response to the question of whether she could have given that information herself.
During cross-examination, ANL’s Antony White KC made the remark that Ms. Frost’s family members giving material to the media “was likely to encourage” her friends to follow suit.
“I don’t 100% agree with that,” she retorted.
Frost stated in a witness statement that she was “mortified” to learn that her landline had been listened to since it was “a lifeline for me” and that she was unaware that she might have a claim against the publisher until 2019.
“They made me feel that I couldn’t trust anyone, and the stories they wrote violated me, my friends, family, and my young children,” she added.
Additionally, she said it was “100% untrue” that she attempted to persuade her close friend Kate Moss to support her lawsuit against the publisher.
“Ms. Frost’s circle was and was known to be ‘leaky’ in the period when her marriage to Jude Law was in difficulties, and this and their subsequent divorce was frequently being reported in the media,” Mr. White KC, representing ANL, stated in court.
“Ms. Frost’s family members also routinely and without hesitation gave information to the media about Ms. Frost’s and Mr. Law’s private lives,” he added.
During their testimony last week, Ms. Hurley and the Duke of Sussex both broke down in tears as they discussed the effects of the alleged intrusion on their lives.
In a series of icy exchanges, Harry spent around two hours on Wednesday answering questions from ANL’s counsel before his barrister, Mr. Sherborne, asked him how the hearings had affected him.
“Putting us through this again when all we wanted was an apology and accountability is fundamentally wrong,” the duke stated.
“It’s an awful experience.”
“They continue to come after me, they have made my wife’s life an absolute misery, my Lord,” he added, sounding sad and almost tearing.
“I have never believed that my life is open season to be commercialized by these people,” the duke said in court, describing the case against ANL as a “repeat of the past” and a “recurring traumatic experience.”
The “claim that I don’t have any rights to any privacy is disgusting,” he subsequently said.
ANL is contesting the allegations and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The trial before Mr. Justice Nicklin is scheduled to expire at the end of March, and a written verdict will be issued at a later time.
