Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, has apologised to Melania Trump for having an affair with her husband US President Donald Trump.
"I'm sorry. I wouldn't want it done to me," she said during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
In the interview, which was aired on Thursday night, McDougal claims that her affair with Trump began in 2006, three months after Melania gave birth to the couple's only son, Barron. The affair went on for 10 months, she says.
Asked what she would like to say to Melania, McDougal replies, "What can you say except I'm sorry?"
McDougal also claims that Trump tried to pay her after they had sex at Trump's bungalow in Beverly Hills Hotel in 2006, which was apparently their 'first date'.
“Well, after we had been intimate, he tried to pay me. And I actually didn’t know how to take that,” she said. “But I looked at him and I said, ‘That’s not me. I’m not that kind of girl.'”
McDougal says that she cried on her way home and did not think that there would be another meeting. But Trump called her back and she agreed to meet him again.
McDougal claims she used to meet with Trump at least five times per month and that they were intimate 'many dozen times'.
During the interview, she goes on to say that Trump never used protection when they were 'intimate'.
McDougal describes Trump as someone with 'good posture' and that she likes that in men. She also says that Trump is a "very charming", "charismatic" and "sweet" person.
McDougal recollects how theirs was a "real relationship". “There was a real relationship there. There were real feelings,” she says. “He would call me baby or he would call me beautiful Karen,” she reveals about the nicknames Trump had for her.
McDougal claims that she used to feel guilty about the affair but continued to meet Trump as she had feelings for him.
McDougal's lawyer has said that this would be the only interview she will be doing on the subject. She says she wanted to come out with her side of the story before it became public.
McDougal claims she is a Republican and that she had voted for Trump in the last presidential election. She adds that she had no intention to hurt him politically.
The White House has denied that the president had an affair with McDougal. The ex-model had filed a lawsuit against National Enquirer which had paid her $150,000 during the presidential campaigning for her story but never ran it.