Speaking on The Dinosaur Hour, salon owner Danielle Hindley said she attempted suicide after an inaccurate story which “gravely damaged” her credibility.
She told GB News that the Daily Mail had printed an article claiming she disfigured a client while being described as a “cowboy cosmetic”.
“I had a journalist come into my home with a hidden camera”, she said.
“They were pretending to be a client. She was asking strange questions that clients don’t ask.
Danielle Hindley spoke to John Cleese about how her reputation was damaged
GB NEWS
“It was only the next day I couldn’t stop thinking about this woman that had been in myhouse, I Googled her number and it came up straight away, a Daily Mail reporter.”
After the story had been printed, Hindley spoke to Cleese about how her life changed for the worse with neighbours even shouting at her when she left the house.
“It has affected some of my family relationships now”, she said.
“I don’t have any relationship with my mother or my siblings and that ultimately is because of that article and because people believe what they read.
“If I hadn’t gone one step further and taken a level case I don’t think my business would have recovered, and if I’m completely honest I don’t think I would be here now either.”
She issued a complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) which found that the newspaper had breached the accuracy clause in falsely suggesting that she was a “rogue” beautician who had “botched” treatments.
Danielle Hindley revealed she was close to suicide
GB NEWS
The ruling said: “There was a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article.”
In June 2019, Danielle accepted the Mail on Sunday’s offer of amends which included paying damages and costs and the publication of an apology.
In 2020, Danielle won a libel case and was awarded a substantial sum of money after taking the Mail on Sunday and its owners, Associated Newspapers, to the Royal Courts of Justice.
In a statement outside the court, she said: "In 2017 the Mail on Sunday wrote an article that gravely damaged my professional reputation, my personal credibility, my mental health and my son’s wellbeing.
"What the Mail on Sunday did to me was too cruel. I felt trapped and unsafe and I attempted suicide as a result.
"Today in court the Mail on Sunday and its owners, Associated Newspapers, have admitted that what they published about me was false.
"In other words, I did nothing wrong, yet the Mail on Sunday abused my privacy and pushed me to the point where my son almost had no mother.
"It has taken two years to achieve today’s vindication."