Taking the witness stand Friday, Graham Chase Robinson testified that her former boss Robert De Niro called her a bitch several times while she worked for him and that he made her “physically uncomfortable” when he insisted she scratch his back.
“I mentioned there was a back scratcher he could use instead. He said ‘I prefer the way you do it,’” Robinson testified, according to The Daily Mail. “It was creepy, just disgusting.”
Robinson is seeking $12 million for alleged gender discrimination while she worked as his personal assistant from 2008 to 2018. Her lawsuit alleges that De Niro treated her like an “office wife” by assigning her tasks like mending clothes or vacuuming his apartment. De Niro has denied the allegations and erupted at Robinson earlier this week during his testimony, shouting “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!”
Robinson, during her testimony, broke down in tears recalling an instance where she said De Niro insisted she scratch his back because he preferred “the way you do it,” the Mail reported.
Robinson also claimed De Niro called her a “bitch” multiple times and would berate her often during her employment with him. In one such instance, a furious De Niro allegedly cursed her out after being unable to find Christmas presents at their workplace in 2017.
“He was cursing left and right. I was trying to sort it but he just said I was being a bitch,” Robinson testified. “I was complaining about him berating me and said please don’t curse at me.”
She said it was “very difficult to have him call me that” and “it was very demeaning [and] incredibly hurtful to hear that from your boss.”
De Niro previously admitted to asking Robinson to scratch his back “once or twice,” and said he may have called her a “bitch,” but he described her allegations of gender discrimination as “nonsense.”
