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It's becoming increasingly difficult to try and figure out who's lying about what in the Botox Mom story. But one thing is glaringly clear: ABC News is going to have a hard time convincing critics that it doesn't engage in checkbook journalism. ABC News confirmed rumors that the network offered $10,000 through a broker for photos of Sheena Upton (a.k.a. Kerry Campbell, a.k.a. "Botox Mom") and her evidently not-Botoxed daughter. But Upton fabricated the story, ABC News will not send payment to the U.K. freelancer they licensed for an exclusive on the story. "We had agreed to pay a $10,000 licensing fee to a U.K. freelancer for the pictures, but obviously in light of everything that's happened, zero money has been sent that way," a network spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter, adding, "We have a contract with the freelanceer, which obviously stipulates that the images depict what they purport to show, that there's no staging in any way."
Last week, Good Morning America interviewed Upton, who later told TMZ she had been offered "a large fee" to appear on camera. TMZ's sources claimed the figure was $10,000. According to documents obtained by TMZ early on Friday, Upton's correspondence with the broker ABC News struck its deal with reveal strict instructions on how to handle the offer from Good Morning America as well as Inside Edition which allegedly paid Upton $9,500 for an appearance: