Inside Robert De Niro's Bitter Legal Battle with Assistant

Robert De Niro is currently in the throes of a bitter courtroom showdown with one of his former assistants, years after each side filed lawsuits against the other.

The actor's film production company, Canal Productions, Inc., initially filed a $6 million lawsuit against former executive assistant Graham Chase Robinson back in August 2019 for "breaching her fiduciary duties." Robinson was accused of embezzling money and binge-watching Netflix at work, including 55 episodes of Friends in just four days.

Robinson, who was made vice-president of production and finance at Canal Productions in 2017, left the company in April 2019 amid growing concerns about alleged "corporate sabotage," De Niro's suit stated.

The former employee, who was first hired as an assistant to the 80-year-old Hollywood actor in 2008 when she was 25 years old, was accused of charging hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal expenses on the company card, transferring millions of company frequent flyer miles to her own account, and rarely going into the office.

Robinson allegedly submitted false information to the company's accountant claiming she hadn't taken any vacation in nearly four years and was therefore entitled to a payout for the "unused" days. But Canal Productions claimed emails reveal she took all her vacation days during this period and in fact she exceeded her time off allowance.

In October 2019, Robinson sued the Killers of the Flower Moon actor for $12 million in federal court over allegations that she was subjected to "years of gender discrimination and harassment" during her tenure at De Niro's production company.

Robinson alleged that De Niro fostered a "hostile work environment" and committed overt acts of harassment against her, including "unwanted physical contact" and sexual comments.

"Robert De Niro is someone who has clung to old mores," the complaint alleged. "He does not accept the idea that men should treat women as equals. He does not care that gender discrimination in the workplace violates the law. Ms. Robinson is a casualty of this attitude."

In addition to the allegations of non-consensual touching and inappropriate comments, Robinson accused De Niro of verbal abuse, treating her as an "office wife" and delegating to her "stereotypically female duties like housework."

De Niro allegedly called Robinson degrading and sexist names, such as "b**** and brat," and was described in the suit as having referred to a female business partner as a "c***" in Robinson's presence.

The suit also claimed Robinson was not paid as much as she was owed on account of her gender, and included allegations that her overtime claims were denied.

Robinson accused De Niro of having "retaliated" against her initial complaints by first filing a court action pre-empting her lawsuit, after which she formalized her claims of discrimination in federal court.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of De Niro and Robinson via email for comment.

Both sides finally faced off in court on Monday, when their trial began in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Taking the stand as the first witness on Tuesday, De Niro admitted to raising his voice at Robinson when asked by her lawyer, Andrew Macurdy, if he had ever called his erstwhile assistant names during her time with his company.

"Yeah, fine, I berated her," said De Niro, who also stated that he may have called Robinson "petulant," "snippy," and a "f****** spoiled brat" during her employment.

When questioned about Robinson's allegation that he had once asked her to scratch his itching back, De Niro responded: "Give me a break with that nonsense... For her to use that is so ridiculous."

"Every little thing she's trying to get me on is nonsense! Shame on you, Chase Robinson," he added. De Niro later apologized for the outburst.

While on the stand, De Niro also pushed back on claims that he expected Robinson to do "anything and everything" as part of her job, insisting that he was "careful" about the jobs he asked her to do. He did, however, agree that he once called Robinson at 4:30 a.m. after hurting his back. He said it happened on one occasion.

When it came to Robinson's title switch from assistant to VP of finance and production, De Niro said that the change was made because she had been "pushy" for it, although her duties and responsibilities were not changed.

"The job is what it is," De Niro told the court. "The titles were not important."

The trial is expected to conclude on November 10.