Lady Gaga Deposition for Overtime Lawsuit: Personal Assistant Suing for $393,000
Lady Gaga was unable to keep her poker face on during a recent trial while facing a lawsuit for failing to pay a former personal assistant overtime.
Jennifer O'Neill brought out Mother Monster's less benevolent side. The former personal assistant brought charges against the pop diva, stating that Gaga failed to compensate O'Neill for all of her hard work. In the 2011 suit, O'Neill states that she worked over 7,000 hours of overtime without being paid. She is suing Gaga for $393,000 plus damages, according to The New York Post. And now Gaga is not very happy.
The usually tame Mother Monster unleashed her mean side during a recent court date, accusing O'Neill of being a "f------ hood rat who is suing me for money that she didn't earn."
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In her defense, Gaga argued that she does not pay any of her employees overtime and that O'Neill "knew exactly what she was getting into, and she knew there was no overtime, and I never paid her overtime the first time I hired her, so why would she be paid overtime the second time?"
O'Neill was paid $75,000 a year to do a job that she was essentially "unqualified for," Gaga stated, adding that she allowed to O'Neill to keep her position as more of a "favor."
"Because she slept in Egyptian cotton sheets every night, in five-star hotels, on private planes, eating caviar, partying with [photographer] Terry Richardson all night, wearing my clothes, asking YSL [Yves Saint Laurent] to send her free shoes without my permission, using my YSL discount without my permission," Gaga said.
Gaga recalled numerous accounts during which she spent time with O'Neill as more of a friend than an assistant. She alleged to sharing her clothes with the assistant and late night hangouts during which O'Neill had "the time of her life."
O'Neill stopped working for Gaga in 2011 following an argument. Gaga claimed the assistant wanted seniority over other employees because she had worked for Gaga longer.
"And I remember those words as clear as day, because when your best friend looks you in the eye and says 'Why can't I have that seat on your private plane, I'm your friend,' the first thing I thought was 'You're not my f------ friend,'" the singer stated in court records obtained by The Post.
"She's just- she thinks she's just like the queen of the universe," Gaga ranted. "And, you know what, she didn't want to be a slave to one, because in my work and what I do, I'm the queen of the universe every day."
