Robert De Niro rubbished claims of workplace misconduct during his court appearance (Picture: REUTERS)
Robert De Niro didn’t hold back as he appeared in court to testify against accusations he had been an abusive boss and claimed the lawsuit was ‘all nonsense’.
The 80-year-old Hollywood star arrived for his trial in New York City that arose due to allegations made by his former personal assistant.
While his interactions with Graham Chase Robinson were picked apart by lawyers in court, De Niro seemed agitated and struggled to remain quiet.
The star’s former employee worked for the Oscar winner between the years 2008 and 2019 before departing the role she was later given of his production and finance vice president.
Robinson is now suing her previous boss for $12 million (£10m) in damages for what she claimed was reputational harm and severe emotional distress.
Adding to her allegations, the ex-employee said she decided to leave the role after clashes with the star’s girlfriend and that De Niro then refused to give her a reference to seek a job elsewhere.
The star appeared in court in New York City (Picture: REUTERS)
He slammed the accusations and claimed they were not true (Picture: REUTERS)
During his afternoon testimony, the Dirty Grandpa admitted to listing Robinson as his emergency contact and asking for her help to write greeting cards for his grandchildren.
He was then questioned by lawyers and asked his opinion on whether his former assistant was conscientious.
‘Not after everything I’m going through now,’ he scoffed as he offered his reply in court and was noted to have raised his voice to an almost shout twice while in the building.
Elsewhere during the first day of the trial, the star urged the court to understand that he treated Robinson well while she was employed by him.
He outlined that his treatment of the assistant was fair even after his purchase of a five-bedroom townhouse in Manhattan which he planned to move into with his 45-year-old girlfriend Tiffany Chen and had Robinson oversee the preparations for.
Robinson is suing the star for millions of dollars (Picture: Getty Images)
She said she left employment after clashes with the actor’s partner (Picture: Getty Images)
De Niro explained: ‘It is not like I’m asking for her to go out there and scrape floors and mop the floor. So this is all nonsense!’
As part of the lawyers’ examination of the case, correspondence between the star and his partner was shown to jurors.
The exchanges outlined that Chen had became suspicious of Robinson’s motives and expressed worries that the assistant was perforiniung as if she had ‘imaginary intimacy’ with De Niro and believed she was his wife.
Expected to last two weeks in total, the civil trail is ongoing in America.
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‘It is not like I’m asking for her to go out there and scrape floors and mop the floor’.
