LOS ANGELES- A Canadian woman dropped her defamation lawsuit against former “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc for comments he made in a National Enquirer article, “My Wild Night With a Stripper,” the actor’s lawyer said Wednesday.

A hearing had been set for last week on a motion by Weinsten to throw out the case on grounds LeBlanc was exercising his right to free speech when he granted the interview.

LeBlanc, 39, agreed to talk to the National Enquirer only after learning Stephens had sold her version of their June 2005 encounter to the paper for $60,000, according to LeBlanc’s court papers.

LeBlanc, who denied defaming Stephens, never identified her or the name of the Victoria, B.C. strip club where she worked, his court papers stated. Her lawsuit also was barred by the statute of limitations because the Aug. 22 filing in Los Angeles Superior Court was more than a year after the article’s Aug. 10, 2005, publication date, according to his court papers.

In the National Enquirer article, LeBlanc describes how a night out with friends “turned into a personal nightmare.”

“I don’t have the answers,” LeBlanc said, according to the tabloid.

“It was a night out with the guys, we drank too much and the situation got out of control.”

The situation culminated with the stripper approaching LeBlanc, accompanying him to a private room and gave him a lap dance, the actor told the paper.

“The stripper was all over me, took off her top and wanted to perform a private dance,” LeBlanc told the Enquirer. “I was drinking, and she was crossing the line that strippers normally shouldn’t cross.”

LeBlanc said that he “got carried away with a dancer for a mad moment and am now paying the price of allowing myself to be lured into that position,” according to the paper.

The article states that eyewitnesses said people were “snorting cocaine around him,” but the actor denied during the interview that he used drugs.

“I did have too much to drink, but I never, ever went near drugs that night,” LeBlanc said, according to the newspaper.

The actor said he realized the next morning that his conduct was wrong and he felt guilty because of it, the article stated.

“It is not where a family man should be, and I know that,” LeBlanc told the newspaper.

LeBlanc was married at the time of the lap dance, but his divorce was finalized on Oct. 6. He and his ex-wife Melissa have a daughter who will be three in February.

According to Stephens’ lawsuit, she never gave LeBlanc a lap dance and all sexual contact between them happened at her home.