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A trial involving the American actor Robert De Niro, 80, and his former personal assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, 41, began a few days ago in the federal court in Manhattan, New York. The American and international newspapers are reporting writing a lot due to the fame of De Niro, who is one of the most successful and awarded actors of his generation, at the cinema these days as a character in Martin Scorsese’s latest film Killers of the Flower Moon. But we are also talking about it because the testimonies of the people involved have revealed details and stories about De Niro’s private and working life which could in some ways seem more suitable for a soap opera than a legal dispute.
The story that led to the trial began in 2019, when De Niro’s production company, Canal Productions, sued Robinson, alleging that he had improperly used tens of thousands of company dollars for his personal expenses. Robinson responded with another lawsuit in which he accused De Niro of creating a toxic work environment characterized by gender discrimination and retaliation. The judge in these days will have to express his opinion on the accusations of both and on possible compensation: De Niro has asked to get back 6 million dollars for expenses and 5 million airline miles (i.e. the bonus points that airlines offer for free flights to customers who spend high amounts), while Robinson 12 million for emotional damage and damage to his reputation. Both De Niro and Robinson have respectively denied guilt of the charges against them.
Graham Chase Robinson was hired by De Niro in 2008, when she was 25 years old: she began working as his personal assistant and over the years had risen through the ranks. When she decided to quit in 2019, she was vice president of production and finance at Canal Productions.
After her resignation, Canal Productions sued her, alleging that she had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars in airline miles accrued by the company, and that she had improperly spent tens of thousands of dollars more on restaurant meals and Uber and bus rides. taxis made outside of his work duties. Robinson argued during the trial that all the disputed expenses had in fact previously been agreed upon as company benefits, as had the transfer of airline miles. In 2019, there was also a lot of talk about the accusation that Robinson spent many working hours and watched TV series on Netflix, which however was not brought to trial.
Overall, during his interrogation, Robinson – who earned $300,000 a year – said he spent so much money on travel and food at the company’s expense because his job required him to be on call 24 hours a day, “since 2008 to the day I resigned.” During the trial De Niro said that he had always based reimbursement of expenses and relationships with his employees on trust and common sense.
According to Robinson’s accusations, however, De Niro would be guilty of gender discrimination for treating her like an “office wife”, imposing tasks on her such as washing his sheets and scratching his back, and paying her less than her personal trainer, a man. In her testimony, Robinson said that although she had made a career over the years, her duties had always remained those of a personal assistant, including taking care of De Niro’s home and personal affairs. Furthermore, De Niro would on some occasions call her a “bitch” (bitch) and “spoiled brat” (spoiled brat).
De Niro’s lawyers responded by saying that the personal trainer Robinson cited was paid more because he had worked with him longer. Regarding the epithets Robinson disputed, De Niro did not deny using them but said he never crossed a line or was ever verbally abusive. He also confirmed that he had asked her to scratch his back a few times, maintaining that there was nothing obscene or disrespectful. Robinson said that when he suggested using a back scratcher he replied: “I like the way you do it.”
The other accusation made by Robinson is of retaliation, due to a series of arguments that also involved Tiffany Chen, De Niro’s current partner and mother of their few-month-old daughter. Some newspapers reported messages and statements from Chen that make it seem that the basis of the relationship between the two was a rivalry for De Niro’s romantic attention, which however was never confirmed and did not emerge during the trial.
Between 2018 and 2019 the two worked together on the arrangement of the new house where De Niro’s family was about to move, finding themselves in many cases at odds, so much so that Robinson asked not to be further involved in the house arrangement project to avoid further tensions . At that point, Robinson claims that Chen asked Canal Productions to remove her and other duties from her duties and instructed some of the company’s employees to investigate her suspicious expenses. During the trial, Chen denied this accusation and said that she had simply asked that she no longer look after her house. Chen then accused Robinson of purposely forgetting to book catering for a four-hour private flight, also at that time. Shortly thereafter, Robinson resigned.
Among the episodes of the trial that were most covered by the newspapers are some moments of De Niro’s interrogation, for example the one in which, responding to Robinson’s lawyer who had asked him if it was true that he had once telephoned her while she was urinating, he called the accusation “nonsense” and added: “did you bring us here for this?”. At another moment he addressed his former assistant directly by exclaiming: “shame on you, Chase Robinson!”.
Brian Daniels, who deals with finding personal assistants for Hollywood celebrities, told the Guardian that the trial underway in Manhattan is representative of an issue that has always affected this type of working relationship, in which “celebrities and billionaires have the right to privacy, but assistants have the right to work in non-toxic situations.” It is not the only case of this kind in recent years, other similar events have involved the personal assistants of celebrities such as Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Sharon Stone and Kim Kardashian.