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Hollywood actor Robert De Niro has been accused of sexual assault by his former personal assistant.
According to a lawsuit by Graham Chase Robinson, De Niro would regularly make creepy and sexual demands to his female assistant. If she refused to comply, he would fly into abusive fits of rage.
She claims that the actor repeatedly made sexual requests, including asking her to scratch his back several times.
“I had mentioned that there was a back scratcher he could use instead,” Robinson told the court.
“He said he preferred the way that I scratched his back.”
NN reports: She mentioned that he had asked her to scratch his back on multiple occasions.
Robinson recalled De Niro saying, “I like the way that you do it.”
She added she found the alleged abusive behavior “creepy” and “disgusting.”
Robinson worked for De Niro for 11 years until 2019.
The “Flowers of the Killer Moon” star is in court over the assistant’s civil lawsuit.
The Oscar-winning actor is accused of gender discrimination toward Robinson during her employment at his production company, Canal Productions.
In the $12 million lawsuit, Robinson has alleged that the actor was repeatedly “screaming and yelling” at her in addition to overworking and underpaying her.
She noted her attempts to leave his company multiple times.
De Niro is also suing Robinson, accusing her of charging personal expenses to his company.
“Bob was incredibly angry,” Robinson continued.
“At one point, I just sort of broke down into tears, and I had to go into another room to compose myself, the way that he was screaming and yelling and cursing at me about wanting to leave him.
“At one point, he said that if I left him without giving him what he thought was two-year notice, that he would give me a bad recommendation.”
During the fifth day of De Niro’s testimony, Robinson became emotional several times.
She claimed that the trauma she endured before she quit working for De Niro had left her jobless and depressed.
“I was having an emotional and mental breakdown,” she remarked.
“I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping. Couldn’t run. I was overwhelmed.
“I felt like I hit rock bottom.”
Robinson said she has suffered from anxiety and depression and hasn’t worked in four years despite applying for 638 jobs.
Meanwhile, she additionally claimed that De Niro called her a “b–ch” after she was allegedly hospitalized.
Robinson went on to explain the situation after she allegedly went to the emergency room after a fire had potentially broken out at De Niro’s townhouse.
“I had run into Bob’s townhouse when there was a possible fire, and dealt with the situation where I ended up in the emergency room, because my name was listed as the emergency contact for ADT,” she began.
“Bob had requested that.
“He said that I was complaining and that he didn’t want to hear it.
“And I was just trying to facilitate having somebody else’s name and number on the ADT system.
“He hung up, he called back, he berated me more, and he just said that I was acting like a little b–ch. And I hung up.”
Robinson also accused the actor of using derogatory terms on several other instances when he was “drinking pretty heavily” and got “frustrated.”
