Woman Sues Matt LeBlanc for Defamation

Posted Aug 25th 2006 8:31PM by TMZ Staff

Matt LeBlanc has been hit with a decidedly unfriendly lawsuit by a woman named Stephanie Stephens. The lawsuit refers to statements LeBlanc made to the National Enquirer in August of 2005 in an article titled "Matt LeBlanc: My Wild Night With a Stripper."

The suit, obtained by TMZ and filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that LeBlanc "did intentionally slander" and make "false statements" to the National Enquirer. In the article LeBlanc says, "The stripper was all over me ... I was drinking, and she was crossing the line ... pushing her breasts into me and grabbing my hands to go all over her body."

"I acted like a fool," he told the tabloid, "in allowing myself to be led astray and placed in such a horrible situation and I feel ashamed. As a family man, I've asked myself, 'How could I have been so stupid and naïve to get myself into such a situation with a stripper?'"

Stephens claims she was "never sexually aggressive" and "never engaged in any sexual touching" and "all contact between [LeBlanc] and [Stephens] took place in the privacy of [Stephens'] home."

Stephens is seeking unspecified damages. In the article, the stripper was never identified.

A rep for LeBlanc was not immediately available for comment.

LeBlanc's wife Melissa filed for divorce from the "Friends" star in March of 2006. The couple has a two year-old daughter together named Marina Pearl.

Filed under: Celebrity Justice

Comments [26]

Digg it Del.icio.us My Yahoo Sphere RSS MySpace Permalink Email

Reader Comments

(Page 2 of 2)Previous 15 Comments

16. This is the guy who divorced his wife, cecause their daughter is sick.
Serves Matt le blanc right!

Posted at 6:47PM on Aug 26th 2006 by Jordan

17. My guess is the real reason this stripper waited this long to complain is because she was afraid of people jumping on her and attacking her her publicly for complaining about this situation. I don't feel strongly on this matter. Either she was defamed by LeBlanc or she was not. It's really that simple. And if she was, and LeBlanc's behavior has caused damage to her reputation or life in some way- HE NEEDS TO PAY HER!...And quit treating people like that!

Posted at 7:52PM on Aug 26th 2006 by jme4538

18. I'm really sick and tired of watching people jump on every single average joe who complains a celebrity abused them and accuse them of being a stalker or someone who is just out to make themselves famous or after money or whatever. Celebrities are people, not gods and what they really are is a bunch of rich people who society provides preferential treatment to already both legally and otherwise. So by having the knee jerk response to automatically beat up some average person who is complaining they were abused by a celebrity and not even bothering to check the facts out- what you are really doing is giving even more power to a bunch of people who already have too much power as it is. What this amounts to is yet another case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. *YAWN*

Posted at 8:09PM on Aug 26th 2006 by jme4538

19. hmm, guess the guy is bi...or this is another flag to make us believe so. and not just gay.....his limo driver and one who had been used by the studios for 20 years had a falling out with matt lebanc, when the driver retired he sold his story to the globe about how lebanc liked to have him drive him around and pick up male hustlers for blow jobs............he took a lie detector test for the globe.........so

Posted at 12:46AM on Aug 27th 2006 by spud

20. He took the roll of Joey too far..GROW UP, MATT!

Posted at 9:54AM on Aug 27th 2006 by amelia

21. i believe the stripper. what kind of lame story was it that :
"in allowing myself to be led astray and placed in such a horrible situation and I feel ashamed. As a family man, I've asked myself, 'How could I have been so stupid and naïve to get myself into such a situation with a stripper?'"
give me a break. your baby got sick, you hooked up with your joey costar and you divorced your wife. what a year man. great job, matt.

Posted at 5:26PM on Aug 27th 2006 by grossedout

22. I used to see this guy in the Harmony in NYC all the time.

Once a loser, always a loser.

Posted at 9:38PM on Aug 27th 2006 by Joshua S. Rubenstein

23. Stay your dumb ass home next time.

Posted at 9:52AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Chandler Bing

24. Get real! This is obviously a lawyer's thinking pattern. If Neither she nor the club was mentioned how can she be deflamed??? I mean you can't deflamate someone whom can't be identified besides how can you deflame a person who takes her clothes off and rubs her body against strange men for a living anyway??? Which is illegal in Canada by the way Legaly there must be at least 2 feet between the stripper and the patrons, this is a health regulation, so that the stripper doesn't get any bodily fluids on the patrons. So if this did happen then why should she be able to profit from illegal activity?? Not to mention it happened in Canada, how can she sue in the States?? WIERD!!! And seriously if you come to Canada and try to touch a stripper, I hope your into getting hurt by bouncers!! That is what they are paid to do, prevent the patrons from touching the girls or stopping the girls from entering into the illegal activity of prostitution. That way the club doesn't lose it's liscence.

Posted at 10:40PM on Aug 28th 2006 by Lee

25. Sounds to me like Matt did not mention her name in the rag so she had to sue him to let everyone know who she was. She is digging for gold and wants her
15 minutes of fame on matts dime. or lots of matts dime's.

Posted at 2:30AM on Aug 29th 2006 by dan gray

Previous 15 Comments