Lady Gaga forced assistant to sleep in the same bed, ‘I felt it was required’


Celebuzz has posted a copy of Lady Gaga’s tour rider, and normally her diva requirements wouldn’t rate a mention. We just heard Gaga rant and rave, on the record, against her ex assistant, a woman named Jennifer O’Neill, who is suing Gaga for unpaid overtime. In a sworn deposition, Gaga called O’Neill a “f’ing hood rat,” complained that O’Neill wanted to sleep in a bed, and called herself “the queen of the universe.” Considered in that context, Gaga’s tour rider sounds more demanding than the usual rock star requirements, but I could be wrong. Maybe most of the big superstars are like that and we just hear murmurs of it instead of confirmation direct from their mouths.

Here’s a little about Gaga’s rider, with the documents available at the source:

During her arduous two and a half-year Monster Ball Tour, the “Bad Romance” diva requested that her dressing room be decorated in a “glam rock” fashion and furnished with white leather couches, fresh roses and black satin drapes, according to the superstar’s rider obtained exclusively by Celebuzz.

The document, which was revealed in court documents during a six-hour deposition Gaga gave in a lawsuit involving her former assistant Jennifer O’Neill – which Celebuz was first to reveal in Aug. 2012, also noted that a “manquin [sic] with puffy pink public [sic] hair” be present in her backstage suite.

“[With] silver statins [sic] draped over the walls,” the document noted of her dressing room, adding that “old rock posters from her favorite artists [like] David Bowie, Queen, Elton John and Billy [sic] Holiday,” and “fan art that was kept on the road” also be hung around the room.

Other dressing room accoutrements include all the luxuries of home, plus one that has relaxing properties for the on-the-go superstar: 2 large fluffy lavendar [sic] towels; 2 lavendar [sic] hand towels; 2 lavendar [sic] wash cloths, which must be available to the pop star “at all times”; lavendar [sic] handsoap, body wash; face soap; 2 new seafoam luffas; small candle in the bathroom, fresh yellow, lavendar [sic] or white roses; and a steamer.

All of these requests are only a small fraction of Gaga’s complex — and costly — tour.

[From Celebuzz]

I want to know how people go about outfitting these tour rooms. Like how would you troubleshoot the problem of finding “pink pubic hair” for a mannequin? If you had to do it at the last minute, would you just buy a pink wig, cut a tuft out and then hot glue it to the dummy’s mons? Would Gaga throw a fit if it wasn’t sufficiently curly? In that case you might have to get a merkin and then dye it pink. I guess you could get a pink one online. I’m just saying that a significant amount of pre-planning is required to make sure Gaga’s dumb whims are satisfied. Bitch could bring her own pink merkin.

Over the weekend there was a follow-up story to the big reveal that Gaga is a nasty piece of work, basically. The woman suing Gaga, Jennifer O’Neill, revealed in court documents that Gaga forced her to sleep in the same bed. Supposedly there wasn’t any kinky business going on, but this confirms an older blind item that many people assumed was about Gaga. Now all that business about O’Neill requesting her own bed on the plane makes a lot more sense doesn’t it?

In the court documents, O’Neill statedI felt it was required [to stay in the same room and bed as Gaga],” and added “Unlike anybody else on that 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.” Unless Gaga said it was ok. I’m not saying O’Neill deserves overtime pay if it wasn’t in her contract, or even if she was technically underpaid for the type of work she did. Maybe she wanted to get all this information out to the public as well. In Gaga’s mind, O’Neill was hanging out with creeper Terry Richardson and enjoying expensive perks, so she has nothing to complain about. Gaga probably thought it was a huge privilege for O’Neill to sleep in the same bed instead of the suffocating experience it must have been.

Gaga on 1-25-13:

Most from 12-26-11. Credit: FameFlynet. One photo above credit: WENN.com

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83 Responses to “Lady Gaga forced assistant to sleep in the same bed, ‘I felt it was required’”

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  1. RocketMerry says:

    Yeah, I heard it before, I don’t know if it was a different assistant or the same.

    Still, it fits with Gaga’s shtick; you know, “I’m a contorted and tortured and moody artist who’s super cool and strong and invincible but also soooo fragile and emotional and sensitive and creative and coked out of my own skull…”. Of course she’d ask assistants to sleep in bed with her. Of course.

    • marie says:

      wasn’t there also something about her making assitants sit in the bathroom with her while showering? am I remembering that right? that she was so lonely she couldn’t bear to spend a moment alone?

    • A says:

      Gaga has also hired people to sleep with her. Here’s an old article about it, CB:

      http://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/sw-gossip.php?aid=5639

    • TheOriginalKitten says:

      “I’m a contorted and tortured and moody artist who’s super cool and strong and invincible but also soooo fragile and emotional and sensitive and creative and coked out of my own skull…”.

      Rocketmerry-you NAILED it.

    • coolio says:

      This is so sad, really. So many kids looked up to her and spent astronamonical prices for her tickets and abums becsuse she repersented equality and relatablity. Now she has a “dont you know who I am” attitude, taking digs at people who work behind desks. Its wrong to me that people whos career is built on the love of people can turn on them so quick and forget how they got there in the first place. I know the assistant could be in the wrong but gaga couldve handled it so much better instead of barking at her and talking crap about people with “regular job” I really do think she thinks shes above everyone just for preforming songs

  2. Lulu says:

    Heh. Gaga is effin’ cray-cray.

  3. faun says:

    “Luffa” should also have a “sic”

  4. DeltaJuliet says:

    I have no doubt that Gaga is mentally disturbed and having all these “yes” men around her has just contributed to that. She’s got her head stuck up her own ass and has no idea how to treat real people anymore. What a whack-a-do.

  5. MonicaQ says:

    Someone needs to do some spell check. That’s enough Said In Context for a life time.

    I’m more or less creeped out by the whole thing. Sorry playa, even when I travel with my football team I volunteer to sleep on the floor. One, I snore and two, I’m honestly more comfortable on a hard floor. So while I have no problem sleeping in the same bed as my teammates, it’s not something I do (because of my back).

    The fact that Gaga made it a requirement…I’m making a face I really can’t translate to intertube text.

    • HannahF says:

      SIC is an acronym for the Latin phrase sic erat scriptum. It translates to “thus was it written.”

      My apologies for the correction–I’m sick and feeling crankypants.

      • MonicaQ says:

        No worries. 😀 just what my professor called it when I was writing for my undergrad because, “If I could speak Latin correctly, I wouldn’t be teaching humanities at a tech school /Texas drawl.” the “Lorem ipsum…” always makes me smile…considering I have a friend named “Lorem”. His mom had a sense of humor. I don’t know if it was bad or not.

      • HannahF says:

        oooops–not an acronym.

        on topic–During my Hollywood phase I had to keep track of/calendar my employer’s menstrual cycle in French.

  6. Riana says:

    I get working for Gaga was awful, I’m sure Gag is a first class d-bag, and there’s no way in HELL I’d share a bed with her. But I still have my doubts about what this lady is claiming.

    I also wonder why she didn’t just quit. I’ve known people on both sides of personal assistant work and it’s not something you enter into blindly.

    You get asked of a lot, you face ridiculous situations, you get yelled at for frivolous things – most people only do it for the perks and to make business connections.

    You don’t hop on a plane and follow a popstar around designing pink pubic hair for them if you want respect.

    • Thunderthighs says:

      ^^^ THIS.

    • V4Real says:

      But she did quit didn’t she that’s why it says ex assistant. It’s easy to say she should have quit but we don ‘ t know about her finances. I know people who are miserable with their jobs but they can’t quit due to financial obligations. With this economy who’s to say she would find another job to supplement her income. There are people with college degrees that are living at home with their parents b/c the job market is still in crisis and companies are not hiring. So maybe it wasn’t so easy for her to quit. She’s just an assistant, not a celeb who can walk away from one job and still have many others lined up.
      BTW Gaga is dispicable and yes gross

      • Alexandra Bananarama says:

        Yes, she quit, but she could have quit sooner. She wanted a job that gave her no free time, but lots of money, perks, and travels. She took full advantage and lost the concept that she was an employee. She didn’t have the right to demand to wear her bosses clothes, use her credit cards, sleep in the spare bed when it normally went to her boss’s mother or friends.

        She only walked away when she thought there was a bigger pay out waiting. No sympathy for this girl.

      • *unf* Joan Jett says:

        I thing the situation is super messed up because the woman who sues Gaga used to be her best friend in high school. I guess, it’s a lot harder to establish boundaries or to quit on your boss when she is (or used to be) also your friend.

      • *unf* Joan Jett says:

        *think

      • V4Real says:

        @Alexandra
        Well shame on her for not wanting to share the sheets with the Master of the universe Lady Gaga

        Tell me who in their right mind wants to sleep in the bed with their boss. Are you serious in saying that this girl had no right to want to sleep in a bed solo. Would you sleep in the bed with your boss if he/she demanded it. In our world that would be call for a sexual harrasment lawsuit.

        Perhaps she finally walked away when she realized the money was not worth her sanity. How easy would it be for you to just walk away from your job right now?

      • Susi says:

        I think it’s one of those things where you think you can deal with it for a while as a stepping stone up to better things. Kind of like the whole Devil Wears Prada thing. Then, when you are at breaking point, you feel like you can’t quit now, because all the pain won’t have reaped you the benefits you went into it for, so you need to put up with it just a BIT longer. However, there are some other things to consider here. If they used to be besties there would have been other emotional bonds etc that she may have been hanging onto. Even if that wasn’t true, if they became close, emotional abuse can mean that a person feels so devalued that they stick around because they don’t feel like they’d be wanted anywhere else. It becomes the same as an emotionally abusive romantic relationship.

  7. bea says:

    I read some of Gag-Gag’s quotes from her depo and she thinks the labor laws don’t apply to her. She also basically stated that her assistant was bad at her job and that was the excuse for treating her poorly. It isn’t luxury if that’s what you have to put up with.

    • V4Real says:

      If the assistant was so bad then Gaga could have just fired her, friend or not. Gaga is a disease.

  8. bopit says:

    my God…all I want to know is who spells that terribly (regarding the rider requests)??!

  9. Bowers says:

    Who spells for this woman?

  10. Jayna says:

    I posted about her sleeping in the same bed with her on the last tour before. Gaga is very needy, so you can see where the lines get crossed by her on employer/employee relationship. She obviously was very needy towards this girl and probably shared a lot with her. Gaga didn’t have a boyfriend last tour and was bragging on drinking Jack Daniels a lot and smoking weed on her tour after shows, etc. Thus, problems do arise when you are treating your employee as a friend, too.

    Gaga is full of herself, but so are all popstars. She’s making enough money to have her rooms decorated as she wants going from city to city, country to country. It’s not abnormal from what I’ve read for the superstars. I just hate her pretentiousness to love all ther little monsters and be a humanitarian and laying it over like she is a saint.

  11. Bess says:

    I don’t understand why Gaga forced the assistant to share a room and bed with her. Wouldn’t you think Gaga needs to alone time / privacy too??

    • MonicaQ says:

      When you have that much (unwarranted) self importance, no. If I put myself in a meglomaniac’s shoes, I can control where they sleep and get something close to affection that I can order around. It stops when I say and it comes (no pun intended) when I say.

      In other words, they were like little puppies and Cesar Milan Gaga was there to rehabilitate them.

    • Jayna says:

      I think I read in an interview by Gaga that she can’t be alone. Gaga also said many times she falls asleep in her wigs and heavy makeup, waking up with her wig all askew, makeup smeared, and I’m sure with whiskey breath. Can you imagine waking up to that next to you. LOL

    • Beatrice says:

      I read the documents from the link to Celebuzz above and I think the (lengthy) hotel instructions said that Gaga was to get a two bedroom suite and that the second bedroom was to be assigned to O’Neill.

  12. RN says:

    Incorrect punctuation and grammar from adults makes me breathe raggedly. I keep reading someone’s comments on the Internet where she uses an apostrophe s to make every word plural. How do you reach a certain age and not recognize that more than one book is not “book’s”? Okay, rant over. It’s 6am and I have to go to the gym now.

    • janie says:

      It’s so frustrating to see that! I’ve corrected people who do that consistently and they tell me not to be such a “grammar nazi”. I don’t get it, because adding that apostrophe is an extra effort that makes them look dumber. A lot of these people have college degrees, too, so you’d think some professor along the way would have told them.

      • *unf* Joan Jett says:

        Some people may be fluent in English, some may have learning disabilities or have other valid reasons that you are not aware of. So don’t be judgmental.

        http://paintingthegreyarea.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/literacy-privilege/

      • janie says:

        Uh okay, cool…I’m talking about people who I went to high school with, people who are completely fluent in English.

        This has nothing to do with “literacy privilege”, I was referring to people I know personally who are too lazy to use proper grammar. I edit a lot of my friends’ papers and a few sessions of sitting down with them and showing them consistent grammar errors permanently improves their writing. I was specifically complaining about people who tell me they “don’t care” about grammar and that it “doesn’t matter” when it really does affect how people perceive them.

      • Marie Antoinette Jr. says:

        Since when is it judgmental to correct someone’s potentially embarrassing mistakes?
        A smart person welcomes the chance to learn from any source, and is grateful for the opportunity to not sound/look uneducated.
        There is nothing wrong with holding people to a certain standard. And there is certainly nothing wrong with correcting an obvious and possibly confusing spelling or grammatical mistake in any language, not just English.

  13. dcypher1 says:

    i read in jezebel that oneil is gagas friend from back in the day when she was 19. its weird how fame and money change people. how sad.

  14. mln76 says:

    Well according to Gaga this person was her BFF since high school…I still think she’s demanding but it does put another spin on things.
    Oh and as for riders they are meant to be ridiculous so that if any details of odd demands is off the team knows that it wasn’t read and the whole venue needs to be double checked.

  15. pinkheart says:

    The rubbish that comes out of Gaga’s mouth never ceases to amaze me!

  16. I.want.shoes says:

    WTF is going on with Gaga’s spotted legs?!

    And for the love of god, please put some pants on already.

  17. K-rock says:

    GaGas star is fading.

  18. Laura says:

    “Bitch could bring her own pink merkin”- seriously made me snort! ;D

  19. andy says:

    Gaga looks like Gary Oldman in Dracula in these pics.

  20. Dawn says:

    Why is this woman even relevent? She is very ugly on the outside and apparently on the inside. And she is a copier, she copies everyone but brings up a noch or two to try and hide it. Yuk.

  21. goodquestion says:

    I can’t understand why someone who isn’t a lesbian or bi-sexual would force a woman to sleep in bed with her. If she just wants affection, then she should get a dog. Although knowing Gaga, she’d probably turn the poor creature into a coat.

    • *unf* Joan Jett says:

      Even if you are bisexual or a lesbian, you are still not allowed to FORCE women into your bed! Consent is ALWAYS a requirement, period. And most queer women are aware of that.

      • goodquestion says:

        of course, it was a bad choice of words on my part. i meant that i don’t understand why she would so desperately want a woman in bed with her. thanks for the correction.

  22. Dap says:

    I don’t care what the contract says or doesn’t say, we would not accept this kind of behavior from anybody else. I don’t see what make pop star so special that they can choose to sh*t on labor laws and decency.

  23. karma kandi says:

    Um no one forces you to do anything. You can always quit. And if she was salary on contract good luck with the overtime. Gaga sounds nuts but I would never stay in a job I felt mistreated me

  24. Sisi says:

    well, if I had to be with Gaga 24/7 and sleep in the same bed, I sure as hell would demand overpay. This woman basically could not have a life outside serving Gaga.

    *nudge*nudge* ‘hey you, wake up! I need a glass of water, my feet are cold, undent my pillow, squash that mosquito, hold me, scratch my butt…’ ugh.

    she basically worked 24 hourd a day it seems.

    Mind you, I would have quit in a week. Maybe sooner.

  25. ramona says:

    I used to have to fulfill band riders, and occasionally they’d have some odd items on there (there is no male band – NOT ONE – that tours and doesn’t ask for athletic socks) but it sounds like Gaga’s rider is designed not for actual needs, but to sound edgy. It’s like those whackjobs who demand three hundred white lillies and a brand of coconut water that’s only sold in France. Oooooh, you’re sooooo important!

    And if she needed a pink-muffed mannequin that badly, she should have toured with her own in the trailers. One band always tours with their own ping-pong table as they will not go on without having mini ping-pong tournaments, and also aren’t a*sholes and don’t want to make each venue buy a table. Pure class.

  26. MoxyLady007 says:

    Borderline personality disorder much?

  27. Tania says:

    I think Gaga is done after this. To me, it really showed me how sick and narcissistic she is. I feel that she tries to convey a different image/message, but this nut is who she really is. I think most people will see through her shenanigans after this.

  28. Saema says:

    The pics w her in the blonde seem older… You can see the clear difference in the more recent pics below them… She’s gained tons of weight as speculated before!

  29. JL says:

    1. What do they pay people to put up with such demands.

    2. Why do people put up with that kind of behavior?

    If you’re taking money for it, then you an just leave – thus it must be some GOOD cash coming in….I can’t imagine it’s worth it.

  30. CC says:

    Ok that pink “fur” looks weird and totally fake AND would look totally fake even if it weren’t pink. They might as well call it fuzzy underwear, because that’s what it is.

    And CaCa (ty MichaelK) is CrayCray, even if I’m not certain about the merits of the lawsuit. But it DOES sound excessive, regardless of wage, that there is no expected privacy for months. That’s enough to drive most ppl insane.

  31. KateNonymous says:

    I kind of want to see silver statins all over the walls. Hey, would that reduce the cholesterol of everyone in the room?

  32. HappyJoyJoy says:

    Wendy Williams said it best yesterday: Being needy is such a disgusting trait. If you can’t find a way to enjoy your own company and you constantly need people around you you’re just sorry. Gaga sounds over the top needy. How gross.

    • KellyinSeattle says:

      Love Wendy! Gag-a forgot to put on her pants in the first pic, and looks like she’s wearing roller skates in the second. Exausting!

  33. Jade says:

    Weird face angle from the last pic makes her look like Marilyn Manson.

  34. StaCat1 says:

    I guess she is going for the “i’m an artist and moody”- ok we get it.

    I am sure this assistant is a hanger on..but it sounds like gaga has a MAJOR ego problem (stemming from insecurity no doubt to add to her moody “artistic” image she wants to procur).

    But I think she also in not a healthy good boss to work for – “you should be grateful for what i give you” is a nasty narcisstic attitude to have towards people who give up their personal time to work for you. horrible.

  35. Madriani's Girl says:

    Gaga can wear all the astonishingly horrid costumes and wigs she wants but it won’t hide her huge nose and beaver buck teeth.

  36. erika says:

    FYI – knowing what my own admin asst’s salary/expectations are is 75K is on the low end considering NYC averages, work hours and 24/7 traveling. WAY…LOW…and God bless her, she’s super but I would NEVER even think of sleeping in the same bed much less having her fuss over me like i’m a Queen (of the “f***cking universe” God…

    all of this makes me sick. Sigh….now puptting Gaga on the same shelf as Tom Cruise and LoHo can’t bear to listen to her music w/out thinking of this crap.”

  37. Mario says:

    She’s gone bat sh*t crazy!

  38. Oops says:

    I can accept this if Fassy or Skarsgard tell me is required to sleep with them 🙂
    seriously, slavery is abolished and she’s crazy she needs to take some meds and being condamned for her behaviour, it’s disgusting

  39. tdh004 says:

    If Gaga was a MAN in this situation people would be up in arms calling this exactly what it is- SEXUAL HARRASSMENT. It is inapporpriate and a complete violation of someone regardless if anything sexual happened. No man or woman should feel forced to sleep in the same bed as their boss! This woman was a glorified slave who got fed up and quit to have some dignity (regardless of their friendship) and people are seriously saying she doesn’t deserve overtime?! This story really angers me because I used to be a fan. People in power cannot abuse or demean their employees just because they can.

  40. Gossip Garl says:

    God she’s Ugly…Chubby& Lubby..how do you get to that?
    My my my UCL my my UCL>(Poker face beat)

  41. Nina says:

    Hanging out with Terry Richardson and enjoying expensive perks is not a replacement for wages… those are things Gaga enjoys (so they’re part of the assistant gig) but it doesn’t mean everyone would choose them. So narcissistic!!

  42. Nina says:

    Any job that requires you to sleep in the same bed with your boss has to be questionable… right?

  43. Mindy says:

    I, for one, think she’s fricken awesome. I’ll be her assistant everyday, any day, 24/7. Every pop star has their own requirements for their spaces on the road. They are artists! Just like a scientist might have a pocket protector and a bunch of books artists surround themselves with art. It’s simple. The way some of you talk smack about her sounds familiar, like the way she was bullied in school. You need to walk a mile in those 12″ platforms before you judge. You act like this is a regular m-f 9-5 job. Heck no! This is working for the biggest pop star of our time and I’ll do it in a heartbeat!