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12. In 2013, Lady Gaga went to court with her former assistant, Jennifer O’Neill, who was suing her for unpaid overtime. In her deposition, the singer reportedly called her a “fucking hood rat who is suing me for money that she didn’t earn.” She said, “She’s just — she thinks she’s just like the queen of the universe. 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.”
“I’m quite wonderful to everybody that works for me, and I am completely aghast to what a disgusting human being that you have become to sue me like this,” she said. “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 to send her free shoes without my permission, using my YSL discount without my permission…[This job] was essentially a favor, and Jennifer was majorly unqualified for it…I expect there to be a certain level of, like, you know, knowledge and academia about, like, your job.”
Lady Gaga said, “One of the biggest problems I had with Jen is that I felt like she didn’t enough lay out all my stuff for me [when traveling]. “She also said that her former assistant “was asleep until 12:00 most of the time” and “got lazy.”
“This job is a 9-to-5 job that is spaced out throughout the day. You don’t get a schedule that is like you punch in and you can play fucking Tetris at your desk for four hours and then you punch out at the end of the day. This is — when I need you, you’re available,” she said. “I do six shows a week, and I make a lot of money. I work, I work 24 hours a day. I’m not standing next to Steve holding tea, waiting for him to take a sip, that is not what I do. Not that people who do that don’t deserve their hourly pay, but I’m just pointing out that I deserve everything I’ve worked for. I deserve every dollar of it. And she deserves every dollar of her $75,000 that we agreed to. But she does not deserve a penny more.”
In her lawsuit, Jennifer alleged that she had to share Lady Gaga’s bed while they were touring so that, if the singer wanted the DVD changed in the middle of the night, she could wake up her assistant to do it for her.
She also said, “Every day is a work day for her, so every day is a work day for the rest of us. There is no, ‘We’re going to stay in, we’re going to sleep.’ There is no, ‘Let’s put on sweatpants and go out to the movies and be girlfriends.’ It doesn’t work like that.”
Eventually, the two settled out of court.
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