Hugh Grant. Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Despite settling out of court for an “enormous sum” of money in his lawsuit against The Sun, Hugh Grant will not be silenced.
Grant, 63, explained why he was forced to take the deal in a series of posts via X on Wednesday, April 17.
“As is common with entirely innocent people,” Grant wrote, “they are offering me an enormous sum of money to keep this matter out of court.”
The specific settlement amount was not disclosed.
The actor filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the U.K.’s The Sun, alleging their journalists had used private investigators to tap his phone, bug his cars and burglarize his home.
While Grant said he didn’t “want to accept this money or settle,” the Paddington 2 star explained he didn’t have much of an option.
He wrote, “The rules around civil litigation mean that if I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides.”
Because the lawyers for Rupert Murdoch, who owns NGN, are “very expensive,” Grant said his lawyers told him he’d “still be liable for something approaching £10 million in costs. I’m afraid I am shying at that fence.”
Ten million pounds equates to roughly $12.4 million.
“Murdoch’s settlement money has a stink and I refuse to let this be hush money,” Grant continued. “I have spent the best part of 12 years fighting for a free press that does not distort the truth, abuse ordinary members of the public or hold elected MPs [Members of Parliament] to ransom in pursuit of newspaper barons’ personal profit and political power.”
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Grant vowed to use the settlement money to help groups like Hacked Off, an organization that works to combat phone hacking to ensure a “a free and accountable press for the public.”
The star gave notice to his legal team and a special thanks to “the courageous whistle-blowers who came over from the other side, and other brave witnesses who are providing much of the evidence.”
NGN has continued to deny the charges made against them, saying in a statement the settlement was “without admission of liability” and that it was “in both parties financial interests not to progress to a costly trial.”
