One of the fashion industry’s most high-profile public dust-ups officially ended Thursday when Natalie Massenet and Erik Torstensson issued a joint statement through their representatives saying they’d agreed to settle their differences and withdraw what were essentially dueling lawsuits.
“The parties are pleased that all of the unfortunate litigation between them has been withdrawn,” they said.
No further comment would be given, representatives for each of them said.
Ms. Massenet is an e-tail magnate who founded Net-a-Porter, a top online destination for shoppers seeking out luxury goods from names like Chloé and Jimmy Choo. After leaving the company in 2015, she went into venture capital, helping to finance consumer brands such as Kim Kardashian’s shapewear line, Skims, and Westman Atelier, a line of beauty products from the cosmetics star Gucci Westman.
Mr. Torstensson is an advertising and branding guru who co-founded the denim line Frame and worked on campaigns for Chanel and Louis Vuitton and also invested in Skims.
The two became romantically involved sometime around 2010 after Mr. Torstensson pitched Ms. Massenet the idea of starting Mr. Porter, a men’s offshoot of Net-a-Porter. She accepted it. Soon after, her marriage to the investment banker Arnaud Massenet ended. With Mr. Torstensson, she amassed a real estate empire worth tens of millions of dollars. Together, the couple traveled the world and had a son, born in 2017.
But their life together, which became an extension of their self-branding, publicly collapsed in August, when Ms. Massenet filed a suit against Mr. Torstensson. The suit, which described him as a man with “modest career” but “big dreams,” said he had conned her out of $95 million over the course of their relationship.
Additionally, Ms. Massenet claimed that Mr. Torstensson had been unfaithful to her almost from the beginning of their relationship, and said that he had admitted to alcoholism, as well as sex and drug addiction. Her suit also said he regularly hired prostitutes.
Three weeks later, Mr. Torstensson filed his own lawsuit, in which he accused her of being an unfit parent to their son.
He claimed Ms. Massenet used her power to “exert control of him,” “used drugs regularly” and “ingested alcoholic beverages heavily.” He also said that when under the influence, she sometimes “turned violent” with him.
As a result of Ms. Massenet’s suit, Mr. Torstensson took a leave from Frame, which put out a statement saying the behavior Ms. Massenet accused Mr. Torstensson of in her suit did not align with the brand’s values.
Imaginary Ventures, Ms. Massenet’s venture capital firm, had issued a statement around the lawsuits stating “the leadership and team at Imaginary Ventures always conduct themselves with integrity and professionalism,” and that Ms. Massenet continued to work at the firm.
But fears of a lengthy court battle had been rattling her colleagues for weeks.
The decision to withdraw the lawsuits does not involve Ms. Massenet receiving compensation for the money she claimed was lost, according to three people familiar with the legal battle.
“I know Erik is very happy and relieved,” said his friend, Marcus Dunberg, a Swedish novelist and consultant.
Jacob Bernstein reports on power and privilege for the Style section.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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