Robert De Niro's girlfriend Tiffany Chen tells court that his assistant was a ... trends now
Robert De Niro's girlfriend Tiffany Chen slammed the actor's former assistant as 'psychotic' in fiery testimony at his ongoing discrimination trial.
Chen, 64, took the stand to berate De Niro's former staffer Graham Chase Robinson, who she claimed had an 'imaginary intimacy' with the Oscar winner.
De Niro, 80, is being sued by Robinson for alleged gender discrimination while she worked at his company Canal Productions from 2008 to 2019. Her $12 million lawsuit was filed four years ago, shortly after De Niro sued her for misuse of the company's accounts.
On the fourth day of the trial on Thursday, Chen admitted she pressured De Niro to fire Robinson after their relationship soured over issues, including catering on his private jet and renovations at their Manhattan townhouse.
Her testimony came after a number of hostile email and text exchanges between Chen, Robinson and De Niro were shown to the jury days before, including a 2am email from Chen to the actor saying: 'If you keep her (Robinson) you and I will have problems'.
Tiffany Chen (pictured in August) testified over her disapproval of her boyfriend Robert De Niro's former assistant on Thursday, describing her as 'obsessive, psychotic and dangerous'
De Niro, pictured leaving court after testifying on Tuesday, is accused of subjecting his assistant to years of abusive language and misogyny
Graham Chase Robinson (pictured leaving court Tuesday) alleges that De Niro treated her like his 'office wife' while she worked at his company Canal Productions
Robinson began working for De Niro in 2008 as his assistant, and eventually rose to the position of vice-president of Canal Productions. It has been reported that she had a salary of $300,000 when she resigned in April 2019.
Chen's hostility to Robinson was on full show in her testimony, which saw her compare the former assistant to the lead character of 1992 hit 'Single White Female', reports The Independent.
This included Chen agreeing with a description of Robinson as 'obsessive, psychotic and dangerous.'
Two days prior, her boyfriend De Niro grew visibly irate and angered on the witness stand, which was repeated by Chen who appeared upset at having her intimate personal text exchanges revealed to the court.
It came amid questioning over whether she had forced an ultimatum on De Niro to fire Robinson in 2018, the year before she resigned, which also included texts saying: 'I'm not going to be happy until you tell me she's looking for a replacement. Keeping her around is just a slap in my face.'
Asked if she wrote the texts, she replied: 'Yeah, I wrote it.'
The court heard their relationship deteriorated after De Niro and Chen moved into a new townhouse in 2018, the same year De Niro separated from his ex-wife Grace Hightower.
Robinson had a perceived lack of respect towards the couple's plans, the court heard, which led to a 2019 text from Chen to De Niro reading: 'Her possessive manner over the house makes me very uncomfortable.'
'Her sense of entitlement stems from this imagined intimacy she has with you,' the text added. 'She thinks she's your wife and decided to be the lady of the house.'
Chen's disapproval of Robinson's attitude at the time
