Coc-Kroft scoop free, says women's magazine

A women's magazine denies paying a record price for the story of television personality Lana Coc-Kroft's life-threatening illness, saying "good old-fashioned journalism" won the scoop.

Former model Coc-Kroft features on the cover of this week's Woman's Day magazine with an account of her collapse and subsequent emergency flight home from a Fijian island during filming of reality show Celebrity Treasure Island.

Coc-Kroft's story sparked a bidding war between rival women's magazines but while one rumour had Woman's Day paying up to $40,000, publishing director Louise Wright said the magazine did not pay.

"She got no money from Woman's Day," Ms Wright said.

Editor Rowan Dixon said the interviews were "secured through good old-fashioned journalism".

Pictures of Coc-Kroft in the magazine show her looking emaciated in contrast to shots taken when filming of the show began.

According to Woman's Day, Coc-Kroft suffered from Group A streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, an infection thought to have been triggered by a coral cut.

It says the mother-of-two has developed a heart murmur and still suffers painful nerve damage, and her weight has plummeted. She may also need back surgery after already undergoing operations to remove abscessed tissue in her joints.

The magazine said producer Touchdown Television paid $65,000 to fly Coc-Kroft to Auckland Hospital. Anne Beston