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Lady Gaga has it out for her former aide, Jennifer O'Neill, who sued Mother Monster in 2011 for unpaid overtime she believes she's owed.
"She's just -- she thinks she's just like the queen of the universe," Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, said in a six-hour deposition in the case obtained by the New York Post. "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."
O'Neill, who worked for Gaga from 2009 to 2011, is seeking $393,000 and damages for 7,168 hours of overtime that she said she was never paid. She and Gaga, whose career skyrocketed around that time, agreed to a $75,000 salary, according to the singer's deposition. (Keep in mind, it is a deposition, so it's got only one side of the story.)
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"I'm going to give all the money that she wants to my employees that work hard for me now that deserve it," the 26-year-old singer said. "I'm not going to give it to her so she can go to Intermix and buy herself a new tube top."
OK, we knew that the "Born This Way" crooner had a penchant for drama and theatrics, but wowza, we dare say that Gaga believes O'Neill committed sins worse than Judas ...
Gaga said O'Neill, who worked for her twice, "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?"
The turning point for Gaga was O'Neill's refusal to allow anyone else to sleep in one of two of the beds on Gaga's private jet on their way to Paris. This upset her, but it seems as if the problem festered and didn't blow up until they were on their way back from the City of Light, when O'Neill wanted one of the beds after they all had a "rock star" night of partying.
"I said, 'Jennifer, this is really inappropriate in front of [photographer] Terry Richardson,' and she was like, 'Don't I get some sort of seniority because I've been here longer and I'm your friend?'" Gaga said.
"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 ... friend. You are not my ... friend."
Gaga went on slamming her former personal assistant in what was, shall we say, a very colorful deposition. Here are a few more, er, expletive-free excerpts we gleaned from the statement:
- "I'm quite wonderful to everybody that works for me, and I am completely aghast 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."
- A good assistant "is somebody that can anticipate what you need before you need it, so they buy it for you, or they -- they set it up for you. ... One of the biggest problems I had with Jen is that I felt like she didn't lay out all my stuff for me. There is 20 bags and there is only one me, and I can't sift through everything"
- "I can't walk down the street and go buy myself toiletries, I have to call security, I've got to call Jen or now I got to call Wendi, 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."
- Insisting that her employees worked only eight-hour days, she said, "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 ... 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 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."
Eek and a half!
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