Gallagher Beats Paper

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/29/2001 at 11:00 AM EDT

Oasis star Noel Gallagher won unspecified but "substantial damages" and an apology from Britain's Mirror tabloid on Friday after the paper falsely claimed in a January story that he had lied in court in order to speed along his divorce from Meg Mathews, a spokeswoman for the musician said. "Noel Gallagher, in his divorce papers, makes it clear that the adultery alleged by his former wife Meg Mathews, took place after their separation. Yet in an article we published on January 19, 2001, we said that Noel had lied to the court in this respect," the Mirror printed as part of its apology. "Having been shown the divorce papers we can confirm that Noel always made it clear that the adultery took place after he separated from Meg Mathews, and we accept that Noel would not and did not lie to the court." Gallagher and Mathews, the parents of a baby daughter named Anais, were granted a divorce in January. The hard-living musician, whose 34th birthday is Tuesday, is now dating Sara MacDonald.