LOS ANGELES from www.courthousenews.com – – A woman claims that former prostitute turned-bestselling author Jillian Lauren defamed her on “Good Morning America,” by showing a photo of the two women together to promote Lauren’s book, “Some Girls: My Life in a Harem.”
Stacy Strouse-Johnson claims that “the clear implication … is that plaintiff was herself a member of a harem, and just like Lauren, acted as a high-priced prostitute for the Prince of Brunei.”
Strouse-Johnson sued Jillian Shriner aka Jillian Lauren and the Penguin Group in Superior Court. She seeks damages for defamation, privacy invasion, and misappropriation of her name and likeness. Neither “Good Morning America” nor ABC TV are named as parties to the complaint.
Citing a description from Amazon.com, Strouse-Johnson claims that Lauren’s book describes her life “as a stripper and call girl,” including a year in which Lauren allegedly worked as “part of the harem of the Sultan of Brunei’s youngest brother, Prince Jefri”.
Lauren appeared on “Good Morning America” on July 14 as part of her promotional campaign for the book, Strouse-Johnson says.
“In preparation for the segment, Ms. Lauren sat for an interview with GMA’s staff and assisted in the production of a taped piece, which included Lauren and PGI [Penguin Group Inc.] providing GMA with photographs from that time period in Lauren’s life,” the complaint states.
“At approximately 3 minutes and 54 seconds into the GMA segment, a still photograph of Lauren and plaintiff appears with the caption: ‘Life in a Harem, Window into Forbidden World.’ The photograph is on screen for an extended period of time and plaintiff is ‘readily identifiable’ as the blonde woman standing next to Lauren. Plaintiff was not aware of defendants’ intent to use this photograph and did not authorize its use for any purpose.”
Strouse-Johnson says she learned about this from her mother, “who saw the GMA interview segment live on television. She recognized her daughter and was shocked and distressed to learn that her daughter was supposedly was (sic) a prostitute in a harem in Brunei.”
Strouse-Johnson says the video is still posted on the Internet, on more than one site.
She seeks punitive damages. She is represented by Thomas Ferlauto with King & Ferlauto.