Maryann Sahoury, a New Jersey mother is suing production and media company Meredith corporation after an instructional breast-feeding video she appeared in was created into porn by a third party.
In 2010 Sahoury,35, a new mother, agreed to demonstrate breast-feeding techniques with her daughter for Parent TV. Sahoury who had trouble breast-feeding wanted to help women who had similar issues. She said to The Associated Press, "I didn't get paid to do this. I didn't want to be some sort of celebrity. I did this to help other moms."
Sahoury said that she was told by a producer at Meredith Corp. that only her first name would be used in the video. At the end of the filming she signed a document, which she admitted to not reading.
Sahoury then googled herself months later and found links with her full name on it to porn sites and videos. When clicked on the breast feeding video was edited with a woman who had similar features to Sahoury performing sex acts. When Sahoury googled her daughters name, porn sites also came up.
Sahoury said to the AP, "It was terrifying. It was like I can't even control my life and it was spiraling out of control."
The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the use of the video for any purpose and seeks attorney fees. The lawsuit also claims that the video was placed on Youtube after Sahoury was told it would only appear on Parents TV and cable television. The suit also states that Meredith, which is Des Moines, Iowa-based initially helped to find the party believed to have created the porn video and remove it but they were unsuccessful.
Meredith Corp. released a statement and said, "Meredith is appalled that someone would misuse a video meant to help new mothers. While Meredith is not responsible for this, we deeply regret this has occurred to Ms. Sahoury and her family," and that
Meredith took immediate and substantial action when made aware of the situation, and we have gone above and beyond any contractual responsibilities, expending a substantial amount of time and money. We have hired leading law firms to file take-down demands, and retained top internet specialists to both clear online caches and create positive references."
