Robert De Niro is set to testify Monday in a Manhattan court showdown with his former assistant, who has accused him of everything from unwanted touching to making lewd jokes about his Viagra prescription.
The 80-year-old “Raging Bull” Oscar winner was expected to take the stand on the first day of his civil-trial face-off involving ex-longtime right-hand woman Graham Chase Robinson, his lawyers confirmed to The Post.
The pair’s long-running legal battle first erupted when “The Taxi Driver” actor’s production company, Canal Productions, sued Robinson in August 2019 — alleging the once-trusted employee had raided company coffers, binge-watched “Friends” and Netflix at work and even stole millions of De Niro’s frequent flyer miles.
Robinson subsequently fired back with her own $12 million suit two months later, accusing her former boss of subjecting her to sexual harassment and bullying while forcing her to don the role of his “office wife.”
The assistant, who started working for De Niro in 2008, alleged that De Niro assigned her “stereotypically female job duties that were inconsistent with her job title” — including putting away his boxers, washing his sheets and setting his table.
“Among other things, De Niro [also] would direct Ms Robinson to scratch his back, button his shirts and prod him awake when he was in bed,” her filing alleges. “De Niro also stood idly by while his friend slapped Ms. Robinson on her buttocks.”
The civil trial, which involves both lawsuits and is expected to last two weeks, was getting under way Monday with jury selection and opening statements.
De Niro and Robinson are expected to make their cases over 20 hours each, according to court records.
Evidence set to be introduced by the former assistant includes more than a dozen voicemails and several text messages sent by De Niro to Robinson, text messages between Robinson and De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, and records Robinson acquired after subpoenaing Netflix, court records say.
“Ms. Robinson is ready to tell her story to the jury,” Brent Hannafan, a partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp, said in a statement ahead of the trial starting.
“Her discrimination and retaliation claims are compelling and the evidence supporting them is clear. We believe when all the testimony has been heard, the jury will agree with us that De Niro discriminated and retaliated against Ms Robinson,” the lawyer said.
In her suit, Robinson said she began working for the Hollywood legend’s company as an executive assistant in 2008 but was “forced to resign” in April 2019 after rising to the position of vice president of production and finance.
She charges in the suit that De Niro terrorized her with creepy conduct over the years — including moments when he “urinated during telephone calls” with her and would greet her wearing only his “pajamas or a bathrobe.”
Robinson also alleges in the suit that she was on the receiving end of the A-lister’s expletive-filled tirades, including one 51-second voicemail recording that she once received when she didn’t pick up her phone.
“You f–king don’t answer my calls. How dare you? You’re about to be fired. You’re f–king history,” De Niro says in an undated recording of the message included in the suit. “This is bulls–t. How dare you f–king disrespect me? You gotta be f–king kidding me, you spoiled brat! F–k you!”
De Niro, for his part, has claimed Robinson abruptly quit her $300,000-a-year job when “suspicions arose” regarding her “honesty, integrity, work ethic and motivation.”
A review of the books after she left found Robinson used the company’s American Express card to spend tens of thousands of dollars on trips, iPhones, Ubers, a Louis Vuitton handbag, dogsitters and pricey dinners, court papers allege.
His suit also claims Robinson “loafed during work hours, binge-watching astounding hours of TV shows on Netflix.”
De Niro originally filed his suit in Manhattan state court in August 2019 but it has since been moved to federal court and combined with his ex-assistant’s case.
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