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Sadie Frost has testified in court that the Daily Mail placed a “price on my head” as they sought stories about her, alleging that journalists hacked into her voicemail to gather private information. The actress became visibly emotional while giving evidence in her case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the paper. Among the claims she presented was that a reporter learned details about her terminated pregnancy through a private investigator. Frost stated with certainty that some stories corresponded exactly with her voicemail messages, leading her to believe that hacking had taken place. In a written statement, she expressed how this breach of privacy made her unable to trust anyone.
Frost also recounted an incident from 2002 during testimony, where she accused reporters of bugging a call to her then-husband, actor Jude Law. The call reportedly revealed distressing details involving her young daughter, who had swallowed part of an ecstasy tablet at a party. She broke down when describing the media frenzy that followed and said she was “mortified” to learn her landline was being listened to. Frost said the intrusion caused significant suffering for herself and her children. Along with six other claimants—including Prince Harry—she accuses ANL of serious privacy breaches spanning two decades.
The legal claim filed by Frost pertains to eleven published articles and two additional incidents of alleged illegal information gathering, including one relating to her pregnancy. Her lawyer, David Sherborne, explained that Frost became pregnant unexpectedly in 2003 and later terminated the pregnancy, sharing this information only with the father, Jackson Scott, and perhaps one close friend. Sherborne argued that Katie Nicholl, then the showbiz editor for the Mail on Sunday, must have obtained this information through unlawful means, citing notes referring to a private investigator who charged £400. However, the publisher’s barrister, Antony White KC, denied any connection between that payment and the pregnancy story, asserting that Nicholl heard about it from a freelance journalist with contacts close to Frost.
During cross-examination, Frost maintained that it was clear the Daily Mail was intensely interested in stories about her. She disagreed with suggestions that information was leaked by her family or friends, despite the defense’s suggestion otherwise. Frost described the process of revisiting these experiences in court as “demanding and very distressing.” She highlighted the emotional toll on her children, who had supported her throughout. In her written statement, she expressed frustration that the publisher profited from her pain without consideration for her or her family. Frost only learned about the possibility of bringing a claim against ANL in 2019 and insisted the publisher must be held accountable. Meanwhile, White rejected Frost’s allegations as unfounded and argued that the stories were gathered through legitimate means, claiming the claimants were desperate and that the claims came too late, as privacy cases generally must be filed within six years of the breaches.
Other individuals joining Frost in the legal action against ANL include Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, actress Liz Hurley, former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Simon Hughes, and campaigner Baroness Doreen Lawrence, mother of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993. These claimants accuse ANL of a lengthy pattern of unlawful information gathering, involving private investigators and deceptive practices, stretching from 1993 to beyond 2018. ANL has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing. The case is ongoing, with hearings expected to continue for approximately nine weeks
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