Jacinda Ardern’s Partner Gets Settlement Over ‘Baseless Lies’

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, said he’s been paid an undisclosed sum following a settlement with a media company that published untrue comments about him.

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NZME Radio on March 25 made remarks about him on both a podcast and social media pages that were damaging and untrue, Gayford said in a statement Friday in Wellington. The remarks were based on rumors about him that were “baseless lies,” he said.

“NZME Radio has apologized to Mr Gayford for these publications and the hurt and distress they have caused and accepts that he has never been the subject of criminal charges and is not now the subject of criminal charges in any court in New Zealand,” the statement said. “In a settlement between the parties, NZME Radio agreed to pay a confidential sum to Mr Gayford.”

Ardern and Gayford were due to marry earlier this year but postponed the nuptials due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Gayford is a New Zealand TV host who in recent years has juggled his career with being a stay-at-home father to the couple’s daughter, Neve.

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