FIRING BACK

Former Assistant: Robert De Niro Gave Me ‘Female Duties Like Housework’

In her counter-lawsuit, Graham Chase Robinson accuses the actor of making her his “office wife,” asking her to do tasks like cleaning and scratching his back.

Robert De Niro’s ex-assistant has filed a counter-lawsuit against the actor following his company’s $6 million August suit alleging in part that the former employee watched 55 episodes of Friends over four days while on the job. Graham Chase Robinson, who was once De Niro’s assistant, but eventually became vice president of production and finance at his production studio, alleges in her lawsuit that the A-list actor treated her as his “office wife,” giving her “female duties like housework” despite her upward movement inside the company. Robinson says De Niro asked her to scratch his back, button his shirts, wake him in his hotel room, do his laundry, and vacuum, while paying her less than her male counterpart. The lawsuit also alleges that the actor called her names while intoxicated including “bitch” and “brat.”

The law firm representing Robinson has posted an audio file in which De Niro can be heard calling her a “spoiled brat” and saying “you’re history.” As for the alleged Netflix marathon, Robinson admits that she would put on comedies in the background while working on monotonous tasks in the office, and said she sometimes put on Friends for “white noise” as she was falling asleep, but denied ever binge-watching during office hours.