In testimony prepared for a forthcoming court case between her and former PA Jennifer O'Neill, the multimillionaire megastar tells in her own words how she reigns as 'Queen of the Universe every day'...
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With her outrageous outfits, performances bordering on the pornographic and a love life best described as ‘alternative’, Lady Gaga has become the global pop diva one simply cannot ignore. She has raised irreverence to glamorous new heights and managed to define herself as a cultural icon, an art documentary maker, and was even billed as one of the world’s most influential people according to Time Magazine.
Now, in a landmark legal case, she is also set to redraw the rules of employment, after a ferocious spat with best friend Jennifer O’Neill, who became her personal assistant.
In testimony prepared for a forthcoming trial, the multimillionaire megastar tells in her own words how she reigns as ‘Queen of the Universe every day’ – and why no one should be paid overtime.
The court papers, obtained in full for the first time by The Mail on Sunday, show how Lady Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, argues a 9-to-5 job may last 24 hours a day but in return, staff get to sleep between Egyptian cotton sheets, eat caviar, relax on luxury yachts and ‘party all night’.
The star, 27, has submitted the expletive-filled 200-page witness statement that explains in her own words why her entourage get perks instead of cash for extra hours worked. She says: ‘It’s actually based on a bubbly, good heart. I am quite wonderful to everyone that works for me. I am going to tell you exactly what ******* happened, so that the judge can read on this transcript exactly what’s going on, which is my ex-best friend is a ******* hood rat who is suing me for money that she didn’t earn. The job was essentially a favour, and Jennifer was majorly unqualified for it.’
Jennifer O’Neill, 42, is claiming she worked 7,168 hours of unpaid overtime while being employed by the star for 13 months and is demanding £240,000, plus damages. She claims she was at Gaga’s ‘beck and call’, responsible for her ‘grunt work’ as the singer’s career took off in 2010.
O’Neill, who was paid £1,000 a week, said she often had to share a bed with the star who hated sleeping alone, had to rub the corns on her feet and was woken up because the star could not be bothered to get up to change a DVD.
The star, 27, has submitted the expletive-filled 200-page witness statement that explains in her own words why her entourage get perks instead of cash for extra hours worked...
If Gaga loses the case, due in court in New York on November 4, the verdict will have huge ramifications for entertainment-industry employees because, as Gaga herself says, ‘overtime payments are not usual in my line of work’.
A source close to the case said: ‘She thinks nothing of splashing out huge chunks of money on selfish things but when it comes to looking after her staff and paying a fair wage for their time, she is neglectful. It’s double standards. Her selfishness can be breathtaking at times.’
Here, in her own words for the first time – as well as those of her former PA – is life under Lady Gaga. . .
'You don't punch in and punch out'
ONeill, who was paid £1,000 a week, said she often had to share a bed with the star who hated sleeping alone
Personal Assistant..
We were never really on vacation. Every time she leaves an appointment, every time she walks outside, she has to be fully dressed, fully make-up’d, full hair, full everything.
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.
If she needs to get dressed, if she needs to get up, then I need to work and make sure that she has clothes on, make-up on, hair on, has drunk some water, taken her medication and had something to eat, which is every day of her life during that time.
Lady Gaga
This job is a 9-to-5 job that is spaced out throughout the day. You don’t get a schedule. You don’t get a schedule that is like you punch in and you can play ******* 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.
I remember clearly calling Jennifer at three in the morning, miserably ill one night and I needed her so bad to help me. We were in the middle of London and I was like ‘I’m hanging over the toilet vomiting, please help me, I've got a headache, I’m shaking’, and, yes, I woke her up in the middle of the night, because I can’t get anyone to come help me. I wouldn't know how to call a doctor. I needed somebody to help me. If I am sick and need someone to arrange a doctor or put a cold compress on my head, I view that as work, sure.
'I'm wonderful to all who work for me'
Personal Assistant
I was by her side virtually 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That includes sleeping in the same bed with her because she did not sleep alone.
Unlike anybody else on that [Monster Ball] tour, I did not have my own hotel room. I was not asked if I wanted my own hotel room. I had no privacy, no chance to talk to any family, no chance to talk to any friends, no chance to have sex if I wanted to have sex. There was no chance to do anything.
Lady Gaga
She hung out with us at the show. We were drinking champagne the whole time, laughing, and you know what, I still considered that to be work . . .
But when it was 6 o’clock and my interviews were over and I said does everybody want to party, everybody went, ‘Woo, yeah!’. We went out, we partied until five in the morning, we got **** hammered, I was crawling on the streets in Paris, I was screaming. We had the best time. Jennifer was there. She hung out all night with me and [photographer] Terry Richardson and tons of socialites from Paris, and she had the time of her life. 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. Because she slept in Egyptian cotton sheets every night, in five-star hotels, on private planes, eating caviar, partying with 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.
Lady Gaga argues a 9-to-5 job may last 24 hours a day but in return, staff get to sleep between Egyptian cotton sheets and eat caviar...
'I'm the Queen of the Universe'
A source close to the case said: 'Her selfishness can be breathtaking at times'
Personal Assistant
SHE was very unhappy with her DVD collection. Which is another thing she would do in the middle of the night – wake me up to have me change the DVD in the DVD player because she didn't want to watch that DVD any more and she couldn't get up to walk across the room to change the DVD herself. She might have said I need some tea, can you get my computer for me, can you get my phone, my battery is dead, I need a tampon, the toilet doesn't flush…
Lady Gaga
SHE thinks she’s just like the Queen of the Universe. And, you know what? She didn't want to be slave to one, because in my work and what I do, I’m the Queen of the Universe every day. And it’s not because of some God-sent reason, it’s because it’s my business, it’s what I do, it’s my brand . . .
You know, I did six shows a week and I make a lot of money. I work. I work 24 hours a day. I’m not [the one] standing next to [someone] holding tea, waiting for them to take a sip, that is not what I do. Not that people that do that don’t deserve their pay, but I’m just pointing out that I deserve everything that I’ve worked for. I deserve every dollar of it. And she deserves every one of her $75,000 that we agreed to. But she does not deserve a penny more.
'Life was very stressful for me'
Personal Assistant
SO stuff would be FedExed from Los Angeles to my room in New York, let’s say, the room that I’m maintaining for her, and then I would have to find where she is in New York, which may be Brooklyn, may be her parents’ house, and I would have to hand-deliver Sunfare [US company specialising in healthy-eating meal deliveries] food to her so that she had something eat.
Or if she needed new eyeglasses. I would have to go to get the eyeglasses picked up, if she needed to go to the doctor, I would take her to the doctor. If she needed medication, I would go get the medication. If she wanted to go to dinner and wanted me to come with her, I would go with her to that. If she wanted to go to a club and wanted me to go with her, I would go with her. If she wanted to see a movie, I would go with her, if this is what she requested.
Lady Gaga
SHE would only open a couple of my bags [after getting back from a trip] , and it was very stressful for me because then again on my off days I couldn't really have a day off because, you know, I weigh 115lb, and I was trying to move these huge big luggages all by myself in the room . . . really it just would stress out quite a bit, because I would want more than anything to just relax and do nothing and there would be ******* s**t everywhere and I didn't know where to find it and she was nowhere to be found.
Lady Gaga says it was hard for her to have a day off because she only weighs '115lbs' and can't move her heavy luggage and find her things...
'She didn't let me enjoy my days off'
Personal Assistant
SHE didn't like her sheets, she didn't like the way the tour bus was decorated. So she wanted the tour bus to be redecorated. So during that time I would go to Bed, Bath And Beyond and buy new bedding, or go to Apple and buy some Apple TV, or go to Bose and buy stereo speakers, or go to places, things that I think might make her happy, like Barnes and Noble.
Lady Gaga
I’M not going to lie and tell you that she didn't ever lift a finger on a day off, she did. The problem is that she didn't set me up so that I could have my day off. So when I was in my room on days off, I very often couldn't find any of my toiletries, I couldn't find my clothes, I didn't even know what room they were in . . . I've got to get a whole bunch of people together to help me fix the problem, which wouldn't happen if she was doing her job properly on regular days.
Culled from The Daily Mail UK...
xoxo
Simply Cheska...
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