There was no basis to accuse reality star Imogen Thomas of blackmailing Ryan Giggs, a court has heard.
Ms Thomas, 28, who is said to have had an affair with Giggs, was at London's High Court to hear her advocate David Price QC read a statement in the case of CTB against News Group Newspapers (NGN) and Imogen Thomas.
Lawyers for CTB and NGN did not attend the hearing in front of Mr Justice Eady who, earlier this year, refused to allow the media to name CTB, despite him being identified as Giggs in the House of Commons in May.
The proceedings have no effect on the injunction won by the soccer star, which prohibits publication by the media of private information.
At the start of the brief hearing, the anonymity of CTB was not formally lifted but the judge gave a clear indication when he put to Mr Price: "There is no longer any point in maintaining the anonymity."
Mr Price said he was not in a position to answer and read the statement, which continued to refer to CTB and not Giggs - who was not named in court.
Lawyers emphasised later that the injunction preventing Ms Thomas revealing details about the alleged relationship remained in place and that, as part of the resolution of CTB's claim against her, she had agreed to be bound by a final order in similar terms to the existing injunction.
Afterwards, Ms Thomas said: "To suddenly have to defend my character because of this legal process has been extremely upsetting and stressful.
"I'm just relieved that the parties and the court now accept that I'm no blackmailer. I have been vindicated and that's all I wanted.
"I have nothing to add - it's all behind me now."