Tiffany Chen Defends Robert De Niro, Accusing Ex-Assistant of Being Pretty Horrible in Court

Robert De Niro, Tiffany Chen. Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images for Air Mail/Warner Brothers Discovery

Robert De Niro's former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, was testified against by his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, on the fourth day of his gender discrimination trial in New York City. In 2019, De Niro, who is 80 years old, along with his production company, Canal Productions, filed a lawsuit against Robinson, accusing her of misusing company funds by binge-watching Netflix during work hours, as well as transferring a significant amount of airline miles to her personal account. This information was reported by the New York Times.

Robinson countered De Niro's lawsuit in 2019, alleging that he was an abusive boss during her employment from 2008 to 2019. (Robinson initially worked as De Niro's assistant, later earning a promotion to vice president of production and finance in 2018. She ultimately resigned a year later.)

During her testimony on Thursday, Chen claimed that Robinson exhibited mean-spirited and nasty behavior towards others while working for De Niro. Entertainment Tonight reported that text messages between Chen and De Niro regarding Robinson were also read aloud in court.

Chen's message stated that she is aware and acknowledges that she has intentionally been mean, inappropriate, and extremely rude. Chen's texts further claimed that Robinson is acting inappropriately and is lost in her own imagination, showing no genuine interest in him but rather only in his credit card.

“If you keep her, you and I will eventually have problems,” Chen wrote to De Niro before Robinson left her job.

Chen echoed similar remarks as De Niro during his earlier testimony that week. The star of "The Killers of the Flower Moon" appeared in court on Monday, October 30th, and stated that Robinson had an "illusory closeness" with him, which aroused suspicion from Chen regarding her conduct.

De Niro remembered his girlfriend expressing a sense of suspicion, which turned out to be accurate, regarding a certain matter. However, Robinson's lawyer, Andrew Macurdy, vehemently denied any speculation of a romantic involvement between his client and the acclaimed actor.

According to Robinson's lawsuit, she alleged that De Niro subjected her to verbal abuse, name-calling, and sexist comments throughout her employment. Following her resignation in 2019, Macurdy revealed that Robinson has been unable to secure employment and lives in fear of venturing outside her home. She is seeking $12 million in compensation for emotional distress and damage to her reputation.

De Niro appeared irritated on the witness stand and raised his voice twice while testifying, according to the Associated Press.

In her filing from October 2019, Robinson claimed that she had to fulfill arduous tasks for De Niro, such as buttoning his shirts, scratching his back, and cleaning his apartment, as reported by NBC News. She also characterized her former employer as someone who clings to outdated beliefs and does not recognize the importance of gender equality, stating that he disregards the fact that workplace discrimination based on gender is illegal.