Woman Donald Trump described as having 'big phony t**s' during groping tape responds to lewd comments

'As a woman who has worked very hard to establish her career, I must speak out,' says Ms O'Dell

The TV host at the centre of a tape in which Donald Trump boasted about groping women has responded to the billionaire's lewd comments about her.

In a statement released by her Entertainment Tonight show, Nancy O'Dell said no one should be the subject of such crass comments. She said everyone deserved respect, whether or not cameras were rolling.

"As a woman who has worked very hard to establish her career, and as a mom, I feel I must speak out with the hope that as a society we will always strive to be better," Ms O'Dell said.

During a visit to a soap opera set a decade ago, Mr Trump's crude sexual banter with then Access Hollywood anchor Billy Bush was caught on video. It was released on Friday by The Washington Post.

At one point, Mr Trump referred to "Nancy", and using an expletive to say he had tried and failed to sleep with her.

“I moved on her and I failed,” Trump says. "I’ll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily."

Trump is later heard saying. "In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, 'I'll show you where they have some nice furniture.'"

"I moved on her like a b**ch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married," he added.

"Politics aside," Ms O'Dell said in her statement, "I'm saddened that these comments still exist in our society at all."

In an Access Hollywood report about the tape on Friday, host Natalie Morales identified Ms O'Dell as the person Mr Trump was discussing.

In a statement released after the audio recording was released, Trump said: "This was locker-room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago.

"Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close.

"I apologise if anyone was offended."

Later on Friday night, Trump posted a video in which he said: "I've never said I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them."

He continued, "Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologise."

Melania Trump has also condemned her husband's remarks, saying she found the comments "unacceptable and offensive".

Yet she urged people to forgive him. "He has the heart and mind of a leader," she said, "I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world."

Since the release of the audio tape, prominent Republicans have been withdrawing their support for the property tycoon.

Additional reporting by Associated Press