NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Bill O'Reilly reportedly paid several million dollars to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Fox News co-worker Andrea Mackris.
The legal wrangling ended Thursday, with Mackris dropping her suit and O'Reilly ending his claims the associate producer tried to extort $60 million in exchange for keeping the allegations quiet, the New York Post reported Friday.
"This matter has caused enormous pain but I had to protect my family and I did. This brutal ordeal is now officially over, and I will never speak of it again," the married, father of two said at the beginning of Thursday's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor."
"I'm glad it's over," Mackris said Thursday outside her Manhattan apartment.
Although financial details of the settlement weren't disclosed, legal experts think O'Reilly alone was forced to pay.
"She must have gotten a lot of money," said Suzanne Bracker, an attorney not involved with the case, who added the public relations value of suppressing harassment tapes Mackris claimed to possess would have resulted in a multi-million settlement.
