Rob Lowe was sued for sexual harassment this spring by a nanny who worked for his family for seven years, returning once on her own volition. The nanny, Jessica Gibson, 24, is being represented by aggressive press-hungry celebrity attorney Gloria Allred. In a less than credible appearance on The Today Show, Gibson grinned guiltily and laughed inappropriately while Allred answered most of the questions, holding her hand and controlling the interview.

Allred managed to rustle up another nanny to file suit against the Lowes for sexual harassment, and in the press conference she held with the shaking, sobbing nanny Allred spoke the entire time, holding the poor woman by the shoulders. Allred actually covered the woman’s mouth when she tried to speak.

While Jessica Gibson says Lowe exposed himself to her and groped her, the other nanny accuses his wife of creating a hostile work environment by openly discussing her sex life and occasionally walking around naked. Neither Gibson or the other nanny mentioned the supposed harassment to any of their superiors or lodged a complaint prior to filing these lawsuits.

Now Lowe’s legal team has submitted three declarations to the court from various people who worked for his family which make it clear that Gibson is a less than credible witness. The most damning statement comes from her own sister.

Jessica Gibson’s sister: She was doing it because the Lowes owed her money
Jamie Gibson Sprovieri worked as estate manager for the Lowes for four years, and indicated that her sister was hoping to settle the case for a hefty sum. Her statement claims that not only did her sister never tell her about the alleged harassment or even complain about Lowe prior to filing suit, but that she also told her that she wouldn’t have sued if the Lowes would have paid her $200 they owed her.

In or about March, 2008, Jessica told me that she had sent the Lowes a demand with a complaint because she was alleging that Rob Lowe had been sexually harassing her. Jessica told me that she had made the demand through an attorney named John Richards and that she was asking for $1.5 million. Jessica said that she decided on $1.5 million because she had heard that another well-known actor had paid that amount to a woman who threatened to bring a sexual harassment claim against him.

During the conversation described above, Jessica also told me that if the Lowes had just paid her the $200 that she said they owed her, none of this would have happened. I understood her comment to mean that she would not have made a demand against the Lowes for $1.5 million or accused Rob Lowe of sexual harassment if they would have just paid the $200.

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 complained to him to me before this conversation.

[From PDF of Jamie Gibson’s declaration available on TMZ.com]

Chef says Jessica Gibson hit on him relentlessly, was a sex predator
In another recently filed declaration, a chef who worked for the Lowes in London says that Jessica was sexually inappropriate and acted like a “predator.” The chef says he resisted her advances and told her multiple times that he had a girlfriend, but she wouldn’t let up and even sang that stupid “Dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me” song right to his girlfriend’s face.

I observed from the first day that Jessica arrived in London… that she had an overly flirtatious manner and appeared to be somewhat of a sexual predator. Within hours of her arrival, she had changed into hot pants and was laying on the kitchen floor with her legs open in a very suggestive manner. Her conduct made me feel uncomfortable because I felt it crossed personal boundaries especially considering that we had only known each other for a few hours…

When my girlfriend was around, Jessica would be flirtatious with me and create the impression that something was going on between the two of us. On John Owen’s birthday at Pizza in the Park she sang the lyrics to the Pussy Cat Doll’s “Don’t cha…” to my girlfriend across the table while looking at her and then me.

[From PDF of James Maclear’s declaration, available on TMZ.com]

48 year-old tennis instructor: I got some of that but she was crazy
And the most entertaining declaration comes from a 48 year-old tennis instructor who worked with the Lowe children when they lived in England. He admitted he was having an affair with Jessica, but said he made it clear that he had a longterm girlfriend and wasn’t about to leave her. The needy girl also sang “Dont cha” by the Pussycat Dolls in an unoriginal and desperate bid for his affection. He described another incident in which she took off her pants in the kitchen and wanted him to have sex with her when the boys she was supposed to be watching were in the house and apt to walk in.

Jessica told me shortly after we first met that she was interested in me. I was flattered that a twenty-two year old woman would have such an interest in me. I was forty-eight at the time. I made it clear to Jessica that I was in a serious relationship and I would not break up with my girlfriend.

During the following few months that I knew Jessica, she was very forward with me and did not seem concerned with being discreet. For example, on one occasion in the evening when Matthew and John Owen and [sic] were running around in my employer’s home, I walked into the kitchenette area. 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…

It had become apparent that Jessica was struggling with the fact that I would not end the relationship with my girlfriend. Jessica was taking the relationship with me more seriously. For example, on one occasion, she started singing “don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me,” the lyrics to a popular song at the time, when I was around. She would also tell me that she loved me on a number of occasions.

[From PDF of Nigel Armstrong’s declaration available on TMZ.com]

Of course the tennis instructor says that Gibson never gave him any indication that Rob Lowe was inappropriate with her in any way.

There are more semi-salacious legal documents related to the case on TMZ, including a declaration by Rob Lowe’s wife Sheryl in which she says Jessica came to see her husband while wearing just a towel and tried twice to get him to put sunblock on her. There are also dumb text messages between Jessica and her boyfriend from earlier this year. She calls her employer Sheryl crazy and the boyfriend jokes that they should beat up the Lowes, steal their jewelry and escape to Mexico.

The Lowes are also suing Gibson, and say she is in violation of a confidentiality agreement and is lying. Their case just got a hell of a lot stronger.

I read People’s report of the press conference featuring the latest nanny to file a civil suit against Rob and Sheryl Lowe, and came away with some hope that this case might get interesting. People makes it seem as if the alleged victim comes across as believable, saying that Boyce “trembled and nearly hyperventilated” throughout the press conference.

Then I saw a clip on TMZ, and like Allred’s appearance with the first nanny on The Today Show, she ran the whole show and managed to make it seem like it was her idea to file the suit. Allred didn’t let Boyce answer any questions, and when she tried to address a question about whether she was betraying a boss who brought her to the emergency room after being beat up by a boyfriend, Allred actually covered Boyce’s mouth and said she wouldn’t be fielding questions. Throughout the interview Allred held Boyce’s hand, putting her arm around her like she was a child.

Boyce’s emotional state was so overwrought that it seemed just as inappropriate to the situation as Jessica Gibson’s elation on The Today Show. She was breathing heavily and looked like she was freaking out.

Laura Boyce worked as a nanny to the Lowes for seven months last year. Boyce alleges that Rob Lowe’s wife Sheryl created a hostile work environment which included discussing her sex life and walking around naked. Sheryl Lowe says that she finds these charges “sickening and disgusting” and that the allegations that she used the “n” word to describe Boyce’s boyfriend are patently false and particularly bothersome to her.

Even if these women are telling the truth, Gloria Allred is ruining their chances at a fair settlement by so aggressively courting the media.

Here’s Extra’s! clip, which is much more sympathetic than TMZ’s.

Almost everyone sided with Rob Lowe when the news came out that a nanny would had spent 7 years with his family, returning twice on her own volition, suddenly decided to sue for sexual harassment. 24 year-old Jessica Gibson claimed that Lowe fondled her and made her watch him masturbating among other allegations, but at no point in 7 years did she ever go to the police, her family or her supervisor with these claims. Now she’s suing in a civil suit and is represented by vampire attorney Gloria Allred. Gibson appeared giddy and less than credible in her single public appearance on The Today Show, in which she grinned foolishly and referred most questions to Allred, who went on about how excited she was to get a chance to confront Lowe and his wife in court.

Now Gibson’s lawyer Gloria Allred has filed suit against the Lowes on behalf of another nanny, but all the charges are against Lowe’s wife, Sheryl, and involve inappropriate talk and behavior. She does not accuse her of touching her or making a move on her at all:

Laura Boyce is not accusing Rob of sexual misdeeds, but she’s throwing everything — including the kitchen sink — at his wife, Sheryl.

TMZ is privy to the complaint, which has been filed in L.A. County Superior Court, but not yet released. Among the allegations against Sheryl:

- Walking around naked, completely exposing herself to Boyce.

- Asking Boyce about the size of Boyce’s boyfriend’s penis.

- Asking questions about how she could have sex with Boyce’s boyfriend, given his 7′ height (he’s a former NBA player).

- Using her forearm to gesture the size of Boyce’s boyfriend’s penis.

- Once saying “laughingly that her husband’s (Rob) cockrings were broken,” allegedly showing them to Boyce.

- Telling Boyce about her sex life with Rob.

- Talking about the size of her children’s penises.

- After Boyce allegedly phoned to say she wasn’t coming to work because she was sick, Sheryl allegedly screamed Boyce “got strep throat from sucking ni***r d**k. I mean black d**k.”

There is no claim of unwanted touching or overture. There are also claims for wrongful termination, abuse of process, unpaid salary and labor code violations.

[From TMZ]

If that’s even partially true, it’s really trashy and inexcusable. It also makes for an uncomfortable work environment, and if she really did these things - again we have no way of knowing since these are still allegations by people seeking money who worked for their family for years - then the nanny should have spoken to her supervisor, filed a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing in California, and clearly told Sheryl Lowe that this was unacceptable. Did the second nanny do any of these things to report her employer? It’s doubtful. In fact the woman who managed Lowe’s staff personally vouched for his behavior, as did a lot of his other employees and coworkers.

Here’s more information about how you can deal with suspected sexual harassment at work and what constitutes harassment. This would probably fall under the category of a “hostile work environment,” but if this is even true the woman should have told Sheryl to back off and should have filed a complaint.

Lowe’s lawyer says this is just another tactic by Gloria Allred to add fuel to a pretty weak case that’s getting negative publicity and that the allegations are false.

What I want to know is if this Laura Boyce who’s filing the second complaint is the 1/2 sister of nanny Jessica Gibson, who also worked for the Lowes for seven years.

Rob Lowe and his wife Sheryl are shown at the White House Correspondents’ dinner on 4/26/08. It seems like everyone pretty much went. Thanks to WENN.

Rob Lowe and his boys at the “Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire” premiere, thanks to WENN
Gibson declined to be interviewed for People, but she did pose for a picture
I read the People Magazine article about Rob Lowe’s nanny accuser hoping to find out more about her allegations and what motivated her to come forward at this time. All they have is that photo of her standing in front of a tree with poorly-blended eye makeup that was shown on the People website earlier in the week. The nanny “declined to be interviewed.”

She practically declined to be interviewed on The Today Show too, letting vampire lawyer Gloria Allred hold her hand and do all the talking for her. When she did open her mouth she didn’t say much and managed to undermine her credibility even more.

Nanny Jessica Gibson’s parents and sister talked to People on her behalf, and they said that they were shocked that this was happening and that she’s an honest and good person. The content of all of their comments makes it clear that she never talked to any of them about any potentially difficult situation at the Lowes beyond working long hours.

People believe Lowe, not Gibson
People had a poll on their website about this case, in which they asked “Who’s Telling The Truth in the Rob Lowe Nanny Case?”

The current results are:
Rob Lowe: 67%
Jessica Gibson: 7%
Both have credibility issues: 26%

Gibson’s lawyer demands videotaped depositions
Gloria Allred sure isn’t doing her client any favors. She practically salivates at a chance to grill Rob Lowe and his wife on camera, saying she’s sure she’ll make them uncomfortable and that she wants videotaped depositions.

“I’m sure some of the questions will make him and wife uncomfortable, but our job is to get to the truth,” Allred says in an exclusive interview. “They are going to have to sit down, and we are going to have a lot of tough questions for them…”

In any event, Allred said her office has also sent more than 100 requests for the Lowes to produce documents to support his case.

“They are going to have to answer questions under oath,” Allred says. “I’m looking forward to sitting eye to eye with the Lowes, because Jessica has nothing to hide.”

[From E! Online]

Let me get this right - Allred says she’s going to make them uncomfortable and that she really wants to get in their faces, and she admits to sending over 100 requests for documents. From my vast knowledge of lawyers’ tactics gained from reading John Grisham novels, it sounds like Gibson’s team is trying to bog down Lowe’s attorneys in paperwork, and is trying to intimidate them into settling the case for a large amount of money. I hope it goes to trial and that the truth comes out.

Rob Lowe’s nanny Jessica Gibson is really making a case that he traumatized and sexually harassed her for the seven years she worked for his family, returning twice on her own volition to go back into his employ. First she goes on The Today Show with her aggressive attorney, famewhore Gloria Allred, literally holding her hand. Gibson looked like she was trying hard not to bust out laughing, and was grinning triumphantly throughout the interview. Whenever she gave an answer she sounded rehearsed, but not well enough, and she let Allred do most of the talking.

Now Gibson has done a photoshoot with People Magazine, which promises to have exclusive interviews with her and her family in their upcoming issue.

Gibson never told police, her supervisor or parents
Gibson never went to the police with her accusations of sexual harassment by her employer, and she never told her supervisor on the job, nor did she tell her parents. The woman who managed Rob Lowe’s estate and his employees gave a declaration that “Jessica never told me … that Rob ever said or did anything that she found inappropriate or offensive or that made her feel uncomfortable … or made sexual advances toward her.” In fact the estate manager confirms that Gibson left twice and came back, each time saying she was leaving due to burnout. Other employees also gave declarations on behalf of the Lowes attesting to their positive experiences there.

Jessica’s mother and father were interviewed by People, and each expressed surprise that anything happened to her there. Her father said “I was shocked when I heard about everything,” and her mother said “we did not discuss that.”

Lowe is suing Gibson, and two other employees alleging that they’re spreading false stories about him. In his lawsuit against Gibson, Lowe states that she brought men back to his house to have sex and that she was under the influence of drugs while she was working there. He also claims she lied to other people about having a relationship with him. One of the other employees Lowe is suing, a cook who was fired in December for stealing food, has a history of bankruptcy and failing to pay child support.

Gibson never mentioned harassment from Lowe to coworkers at her other job
TMZ claims to have spoken to at least one of Jessica’s coworkers at the doctor’s office where she worked while on hiatus from the Lowe’s employ, only to return on her own accord. The say that sources claim she bragged that Lowe was flirty with her, but never said that anything happened between them or that he harassed her.

It seemed that Gibson talked more about the money she felt that Lowe and his wife owed her for overtime.

Rob Lowe, his wife Sheryl and their two boys in 2004
I keep visiting The Smoking Gun and hoping they’ll post the countersuit against Rob Lowe by his nanny of seven years, Jessica Gibson. TMZ claims to have seen the lawsuit, and they say the details are juicy and that Gibson claims Lowe showed her his penis on many occasions, and masturbated in front of her.

In her suit, Gibson claims Lowe not only groped her, he repeatedly exposed his “flaccid penis” and his “erect penis” to her, repeatedly asked her “to touch his penis,” repeatedly masturbated in front of her, showed her pornographic images on her computer, asked her to give him a massage and tell him dirty stories … and that’s just Rob!

She then says Rob’s wife Sheryl walked around naked –”completely exposing herself” — made “numerous sexually vulgar comments about male genitalia,” “would talk about her sex life” with Rob and said that “she would never have a boyfriend because only a married man would want to f*** her.”

Gibson says the Lowes paid her $18.00 an hour for her services. She’s suing them for sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, retaliation, unpaid off-the-clock work, overtime wages and unpaid meal periods. She’s asking for damages in excess of $50,000. She also said on this morning’s “Today” show that she never tried to extort money from the Lowes, as Rob has alleged.

[From TMZ]

Gibson was on The Today Show this morning with her aggressive celebrity lawyer, Gloria Allred, and she came off as less than believable to me. She looked like she was trying to keep herself from smiling like a chesire cat on several occasions, and she wasn’t able to effectively explain why she stayed with the Lowes for seven years if all of this harassment was happening to her there. TMZ notes that she left her nanny job to work at a doctor’s office for the same pay, only to ask to return. She returned to work for the Lowes twice, so unless she had nowhere else to go it doesn’t seem likely that she would have asked to go back if the abuse was as she claims. Gibson’s older sister also worked for the Lowes for seven years. It just doesn’t add up to me.

If all of this happened as she states, of course she should be compensated, but then why didn’t she go to the police and file a complaint? Instead she waited seven years, hired a celebrity lawyer and is going on television to talk about her civil suit seeking damages. We’ll have to see if she does the whole talkshow circuit and if her story gets any better with time. She needs to hire someone to help her look scared and reticent, not smirking and defiant.

Rob Lowe’s former nanny, Jessica Gibson, and her celebrity lawyer, Gloria Allred, were on the Today show this morning to give the nanny’s side of the story. 24 year-old Gibson worked for Lowe and his wife as a nanny for their two boys for 7 years, and even returned to work for the family twice. She left the job abruptly in February, and sent two text messages afterwards saying that it was just time for her to leave and that the Lowes didn’t do anything to prompt her departure. Lowe wrote last week that Gibson demanded $1.5 million in extortion money or “she will accuse us both of a vicious laundry list of false terribles.” He then preemptively sued Gibson and two other employees, saying they spread false information about him and his wife in violation of their confidentiality agreements. Lowe’s lawsuit did not give any specifics about the allegations against him.

Gibson has now filed her own lawsuit in which she lists the harassment she says she endured while working in Lowe’s household, including being touched inappropriately and seeing both Lowe and his wife Sheryl naked around the house:

Rob Lowe repeatedly exposed himself and inappropriately touched himself and his former nanny, she claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in a Santa Barbara, Calif. court.

Jessica Gibson, 24, worked for Lowe and his wife, Sheryl, off and on for seven years, according to the 18-page document. She quit on Feb. 24.

Lowe, 44, the lawsuit further alleges, “placed his hand inside Gibson’s pants” several times from about Sept. 2005 to around Jan. 2008. The actor also allegedly grabbed her buttocks without her consent around Dec. 2007, according to the filing….

In her legal papers, Gibson also made harassment claims against Sheryl, 46, claiming Lowe’s wife would walk around the house naked, make vulgar comments, and would discuss her sex life with Lowe to the nanny.

[From People.com]

On the Today Show, celebrity mouthpiece Allred dominated the conversation, and given how aggressive she was, and how triumphant Gibson looked, I found myself a bit skeptical about their side of the story. You want to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and sexual assault is a very serious thing. Given the details of this case, I just didn’t didn’t find the way they presented it all that convincing. It probably had more to do with Allred’s very dominant personality than anything else, and that’s unfortunate.

Gibson denied trying to extort money from blackmail the Lowes, as Lowe alleged in his article about her. Allred said their claims were “defamatory,” and that they were engaging in a “preemptive strike” against her, and that it was retaliation against her client’s claim of sexual harassment, which is illegal.

Meredith Viera asked Gibson why she kept working for the Lowes for seven years if she was being abused and harassed, and she said “I loved the children, I needed the job, I always thought it would get better, and I was scared.”

Viera asked Jessica about the e-mails that she sent after she left, and she wouldn’t talk about it. Viera again pressed “Jessica are you saying you didn’t write those e-mails in which you were saying you leaving had nothing to do with the Lowes?” and she didn’t answer and Allred said “We’re going to talk about that in the lawsuit, and why she did… she was in fear of them, she was trying to appease them. She was trying to get away.”

When Viera asked Gibson how she was coping, she said “I have a great team around me, and I just have to stand up and just fight.”

This case deserves a fair hearing, but this woman needs a normal lawyer who is going to accurately tell her side of the story in a believable way. Having Gloria Allred involved just makes it seem as if she wants it as high profile as possible, and that’s not doing her any favors. She also didn’t come across as convincing to me. That doesn’t mean she’s not telling the truth, just that she has to work on her public image if she’s going to start going on the talk shows.

The Rob Lowe extortion story is starting to get a little weird. Yesterday we told you how Lowe and his wife Cheryl were being extorted by a former nanny, who’d worked for them on and off for seven years. The nanny demanded $1.5 million from the Lowes, otherwise she was going to go to the media with a long list of “false terribles” as Rob put it. Instead of giving in to her pressure, Rob wrote about it for the Huffington Post. His article was pretty moving, and made you feel for anyone who was in his situation.

Today it was revealed that the Lowes sued the ex-nanny who was trying to extort them, along with another former nanny and a former chef. One employee being sue-worthy is one thing… it seems a little bizarre to sue three former employees. The three lawsuits are separate, and it doesn’t appear that the Lowes are accusing the three ex-employees of being in on anything together.

The actor filed three separate lawsuits on Monday against two of his former nannies and his former chef. In the complaint against one nanny, Rob’s lawyers say the woman accused Rob of “infidelity” and also allegedly claimed that he sexually harassed her and that his wife, Sheryl Lowe, was an “overly demanding” and “abusive” boss, who made “inappropriate comments of a sexual and racial nature” to her.

Meanwhile, the former chef is cited for having had sex on the Lowes’ bed “with third parties,” stealing prescription drugs from their medicine cabinet, breaking several security cameras and overcharging them for food. As for the other ex-nanny, she is accused of engaging in a scheme to spread “malicious lies” about both Rob and Sheryl. She also allegedly used “profane and vulgar” language to describe the “intimate and salacious” details of her private life. This is the nanny who Rob wrote is demanding $1.5 million “or she will accuse us both of a vicious laundry list of false terribles.”

[From In Touch]

According to TMZ, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff contacted the Lowes yesterday and offered to launch a criminal investigation into the criminal acts involved in the lawsuits. Rob responded, “Your involvement isn’t necessary. We’re going to handle the matter civilly.” That seems a little odd. Obviously they’re not handling the matter civilly because they want to keep it quiet. And it seems clear that they want to punish these former employees as much as possible, so it seems to make sense that they’d want to pursue criminal charges as well.

Considering Rob didn’t mention either of the other two employees in his article for the Huffington Post, nor did he mention that they were going to sue the extorting employee along with the other two, combined with the refusal of the sheriff’s help… it leads you to wonder what all is really going on.

Header of Rob Lowe at the 2007 ABC TV Upfronts in New York City in May. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Actor Rob Lowe and his wife Sheryl claim that their former nanny is trying to extort them. Though it’s not clear exactly what the nanny’s allegations are – and she is never named – Lowe has decided to refute them head on, rather than pay the nanny’s purported $1.5 million demands. She claims she’s owed this money due to the anguish she suffered while working for the Lowes on and off for seven years. Rob wrote a fairly long piece that was published today in the Huffington Post, in which he defends himself and his family.

A former employee is demanding my wife Sheryl and I pay her 1.5 million dollars by the end of the week or she will accuse us both of a vicious laundry list of false terribles. It is an attempt to damage and humiliate not only my wife and me, but our two young sons as well. My family is devastated at this betrayal; this woman worked in our home and traveled with us off and on for seven years, without complaint. In fact, she left other jobs to return to work for us three different times. Several weeks ago she quit abruptly, leaving us without a replacement.

Everyone knows we live in a time where public figures are targets. But I also know of many people in everyday life who are paying the price of a climate where anyone can accuse anybody of anything, anytime, and hope for a big cash pay-off at the end. “Hush money” to just go away. Well I won’t go away. No one intimidates my family. My wife and I have many former and long term employees, all of whom know this woman, who can and will refute any claims of anything inappropriate in our home, or anywhere else. We will defend ourselves with vigor and without fear.

[From the Huffington Post]

Lowe goes on to share some text messages the nanny sent to Lowe’s wife Sheryl right after she left, in which she apologizes for not giving any notice and reiterates how much she loves their family. The nanny also says she knows she wasn’t doing well at her job, and it somehow seems like she’s got her own problems.

I never had any opinion one way or the other about Rob Lowe before this, but I have to say the guy seems pretty upright. Imagine how easy it would have been for him to pay off this employee. I seriously doubt that $1.5 million would be any huge amount of money for him. He could easily have parted with it to keep the nanny quiet. Yet instead he refused, and decided to make his case before she could go to the media. He doesn’t dignify her accusations by going into them in detail – really all we know is that, in his mind, they’re not real. It definitely takes a lot of guts to write about extortion instead of giving in to it.

Here’s Rob and Sheryl at the 16th Annual Carousel of Hope Gala Event on 10/23/2004. Header of Rob and Sheryl with their sons Edward and John at the 46th Annual Dodger Hollywood All-Star Game on 8/7/2004. Images thanks to PR Photos.