Nanny Negates Rob Lowe Employees’ Sordid Stories
The he said, she said continues. And how.
Jessica Gibson, the one-time nanny who is suingand is being sued byRob Lowe and his wife has denied every allegation of questionable behavior leveled at her in a sheaf of declarations the actor’s camp filed last week.
First off, Gibson denies the statement made by her “estranged half-sister,” who used to be the Lowes’ estate manager, that Gibson was required to sign a confidentiality agreement when she came to work for the family.
“I do not think that I ever signed a confidentiality agreement…I do not remember being asked to sign one,” Gibson stated in her own declaration, which was filed Wednesday and obtained by TMZ.com.
She also denied ever telling her half-sis, Jamie, that she would never have gone after the Lowes for sexual harassment if they had just paid her the $200 they owed her.
“Back when she and I were speaking, I expressed the view that my claims were substantial,” Gibson stated.
Before Gibson filed suit, the Lowes sued her for breach of contract, trespass and other work-related no-nos, claiming she had blabbed about their personal life to third parties and had engaged in a plot to extort money from them.
Last week’s filing included statements from one of the Lowes’ former chefs and a tennis instructor who both claimed Gibson regularly behaved in a sexually suggestive way around them, sometimes while the Lowes’ young sons were around.
Bit by bit, Gibson denies the various details of the men’s stories, including chef James Maclean’s statement that she would pretend to be Lowe’s wife Sheryl when she went shopping and tennis pro Nigel Armstrong’s recollection that she pursued him even after he told her he had a serious girlfriend.
“We broke up because I learned that he had a girlfriend while he was seeing me,” Gibson said. “He pursued me after the breakup.”
In response to Sheryl Lowe’s declaration that Gibson seemed to have a thing for Rob and would openly flirt with him while she was around, Gibson reiterated: “I did not flirt with or seek sexual or romantic attention from Rob Lowe. In fact, I protested against his attempts to obtain sexual gratification from me.”
This increasingly sordid exchange began in April when Lowe blogged about Gibson’s alleged attempt to obtain $1.5 million from him, writing on the Huffington Post that she had threatened to go public with a harassment tale if he didn’t pay up.
That same week, he sued Gibson; Laura Boyce, another ex-nanny; and the family’s former chef, Peter Clements, for breach of contract. (The suit against Clements has since been dropped.)
Rob Lowe Employees Offer Up Lots of Nanny Dirt
Apparently not all of Rob and Sheryl Lowe’s employees have soured on the couple.
One of the former nannies who they sued for breach of contract and is now suing them for sexual harassment wasn’t exactly a model of innocence herself, according to several declarations filed Thursday in Santa Barbara Superior Court, including one provided by the plaintiff’s sister.
James Maclear, a chef who worked for the family in 2005 while they were living in London (and is not to be confused with the chef whom the Lowes previously sued), stated in court documents obtained by TMZ.com that the babysitter in question, Jessica Gibson, “had an overly flirtatious manner and appeared to be somewhat of a sexual predator.”
On a shopping trip to Harrods, right after Gibson arrived in London, “she continued to be very forward and suggestive,” Maclear stated. He also described a role-playing scenario Gibson supposedly enjoyed when she was carrying Sheryl Lowe’s credit cards in which she pretended to be Sheryl and would call Maclear “honey” as if he was her husband.
Gibson would also flirt with him when his girlfriend was around, Maclear said, and she would “discuss oral sex with her boyfriend while the children were in earshot.”
“Rob was a sweet guy, and I never saw him do or say anything sexually inappropriate or offensive to anyone,” the Brit continued. “The only time that I recall seeing him speak directly to Jessica was when he told her that the Lowes were sending her back to the United States in November 2005,” after which she “seemed ill and was skulking around.”
Maclear also said that he never saw Sheryl Lowe do anything untoward, but that Gibson “would often call Sheryl names.”
The portrait doesn’t get any more flattering with a declaration provided by tennis pro Nigel Armstrong, who gave the Lowes’ sons tennis lessons while they were in London.
He stated that Gibson initially came on to him when they first met and, while the then 48-year-old was flattered that a 22-year-old was interested in him, he told her he had a serious girlfriend.
Which, according to Armstrong, didn’t do much to dissuade her.
“On one occasion…I walked into the kitchenette area [of the Lowes’ home]. Jessica was standing in the kitchenette and had taken off her pants and underwear and invited me to have sex even though the boys were in the general area. I was shocked by her audacity. I told her that we could not do that and walked out of the room.”
The declaration isn’t clear on whether nothing ever happened between them, but Armstrong stated that she “started taking the relationship with me more seriously” although he firmly told her that he wouldn’t leave his girlfriend.
“And even though I had never told her that I was moving to the United States, Jessica called me once after she left London and told me that she had found an apartment for ’us’ in Santa Barbara.”
Armstrong also attested to never witnessing any inappropriate conduct from Rob or Sheryl Lowe.
Meanwhile, Jessica’s sister Jamie, who served as the Lowes’ estate manager for four years until 2002, stated in her declaration that she remembers Jessica having to ink a confidentiality agreement when she started working for the family. Jamie also stated that she explained to her sis how she couldn’t disclose any personal information about the Lowes to third parties.
Gibson has denied signing such an agreement, while the Lowes’ attorney, Larry Stein, has since revealed that they currently can’t find the document in question.
Per the filing, Jessica told Jamie in Marchnot long after Jessica resigned and barely a month before the dirt started flyingthat the Lowes owed her $200 and, when she never received it, she accused them of sexual harassment and demanded $1.5 million in compensation, a so-called threat Lowe later indignantly blogged about on the Huffington Post.
“Jessica said that she decided on $1.5 million because she had heard that another well-known actor paid that amount to a woman who threatened to bring sexual harassment claim against them,” Jamie stated.
“This conversation was the first time that Jessica had ever said anything to me about Rob Lowe doing anything that she thought was inappropriate. In fact, she had never once complained about him to me before this conversation.”
And last, but definitely not least, Sheryl Lowe has also declared that she and Rob require all household employees to sign confidentiality agreements. She also denied “all of Ms. Gibson’s allegations” against her.
As for her husband: “Based on my observations of Ms. Gibson and the information she has told me about her own interactions with men, I believe that Ms. Gibson sought attention from my husband.”
Rob’s Nanny Suffers a Lowe Blow
Rob Lowe came out on top in court yesterday, winning his first small victory in his legal battle with a former nanny in Santa Barbara Superior Court.
A judge threw out two of the 12 damning allegations made against the actor and his wife by ex-staffer Jessica Gibson.
While the bulk of the suitincluding all the sexual-harassment allegationsremain, the two charges tossed related to labor code violations and were tossed after it was determined they had no legal basis.
“We’re very pleased with today’s outcome,” Lowe attorney Larry Stein said of Judge Denise de Bellefeuille’s decision. “The Lowes have consistently denied any wrongdoing and will be vindicated. The entire family is holding up the best they can.”
Neither the actor nor Gibson was in court for the ruling, though Gibson’s team is already spinning the decision as being far from a loss.
“We don’t consider this a setback at all,” the onetime nanny’s attorney, John West, said. “Jessica’s case is still intact as a whole…There has not been a single important claim that has been affected by this ruling.”
Gibson worked for the famous family for seven years before abruptly quitting in February. In legal papers filed in April, she alleged that the 44-year-old star both exposed himself to her and touched her inappropriately several times between September 2005 and January 2008. She also claimed she wasn’t properly paid for hours and overtime she worked.
The Lowes beat her to the court, filing a preemptive lawsuit claiming Gibson demanded $1.5 million for her silence.
The next hearing in the case is set for July 10.
Rob’s Nannygate Papers Lying Lowe
Instead of worrying about nannies and chefs, apparently Rob Lowe should have hired a better bookkeeper.
One of the former employees being sued by, and in turn countersuing, the actor has filed a motion to dismiss Lowe’s lawsuit against her in light of his lawyer’s admission that they can’t find the confidentiality agreement the woman supposedly signed before going to work for the Lowe family.
Jessica Gibson, who worked for Rob and Sheryl Lowe on and off for seven years before everything went kablooey, is denying she ever signed such a document, according to court papers filed Thursday in Santa Barbara Superior Court.
Per Gibson’s filing, Lowe’s attorney, Larry Stein, wrote in a correspondence dated May 23 that the confidentiality agreement “is missing.”
“In effect, Ms. Gibson has been sued for breach of a nonexistent contract,” the motion states. “The Lowes set out to punish Ms. Gibson…and intimidate any and all who might want to assert [their rights].”
Gibson sued the Lowes in April, claiming sexual harassment and other unpleasantries, a week after the couple struck a triple blow in court, filing breach-of-contract suits against Gibson, another ex-babysitter, Laura Boyce, and their former private chef, Peter Clements. Lowe dropped his case against Clements late last month, reportedly after learning the epicure wasn’t going to be aiding Boyce and Gibson in their respective beefs.
Stein said Friday they will respond to Gibson’s motion in court. A hearing concerning this leg of the Lowe legal saga is set for June 19.
Gloria Allred, the attorney representing both Gibson and Boyce, confirmed to News she will be lobbying for the case’s dismissal in court.
There’s no word yet whether all of Lowe’s important employee-employer documents are missing, or just this one.