Rob Lowe was sued for sexual harassment by an ex nanny, Jessica Gibson, in April of last year. Gibson alleged that Lowe tried to get her to touch his manhood and that he and his wife openly discussed their sex lives and routinely walked around the house naked. Lowe filed a peremptory suit for defamation, saying that Gibson was trying to extort money from him.

Gibson’s story didn’t add up
I was willing to believe Gibson at first, but there were so many inconsistencies in her story, and so many people who spoke out against her, that she didn’t seem credible at all. Gibson worked for the Lowes for seven years and returned to work for them twice after she quit for the first time. She never filed any harassment complaints with her supervisor, the police, or the state department of labor. She never told her family or friends about any supposed harassment. Her mother, father, and sister all told People Magazine they were surprised by the allegations because it was the first they had heard of it.

Her sister said she was doing it for money; male employees said she hit on them
Gibson’s own sister issued a sworn statement that her sister told that she wouldn’t have sued if the Lowes would have paid her $200 they owed her. She also claimed Jessica said she was hoping for a large cash settlement. Two other employees of the Lowes, a chef and a tennis instructor, issued separate declarations in which they detailed the ways that Gibson hit on them relentlessly and tried to solicit sex. Several other employees issued declarations on the Lowes’ behalf.

As if all of that isn’t enough, Gibson was also represented by vampire celebrity attorney Gloria Allred. Allred went after the Lowes with venom, admitting that she sent over 100 requests for documents and saying she was anxious to interview them in person. “I’m looking forward to sitting eye to eye with the Lowes,” Allred said, adding that it might make them “uncomfortable.”

In a joint interview with Allred on The Today Show Gibson looked like she was trying not to crack up laughing the whole time. Allred answered most of the questions, Gibson couldn’t explain why she kept working for the Lowes for seven years if she was being harassed, and it just came across like a scam.

Not surprisingly, Gibson has finally dropped her lawsuit and the Lowes have also dropped their suit against her. It’s unknown if any money changed hands, although given everything I’ve seen I would hope that Gibson was at least forced to pay the Lowes’ legal bills.

The Lowes are being sued by another nanny, a woman named Laura Boyce who is also repped by Gloria Allred. Boyce doesn’t claim that Rob Lowe harassed her, but says that his wife, Sheryl, walked around naked and discussed her sex life in a way that made her uncomfortable. In a press conference that Allred held to introduce her new client, Allred ran the show while Boyce cried the entire time with her head down. When reporters asked Boyce a question, Allred covered her mouth so that she wouldn’t speak. That case is probably going to get thrown out too.

I’m glad to see this ended well for the Lowes, but it’s got to have been a hard, expensive battle that cost them a lot of money, time and effort. You also have to wonder what kind of effect it had on Lowe’s career. If you have a lot of sympathy for the accusers, which is natural as you wonder why people would go through all this trouble if it wasn’t true, please read through our past coverage of this and all the evidence to the contrary. I paid close attention to these cases, and it’s hard to come to any other conclusion than the fact that it was a shakedown.

Rob Lowe is shown below at Pinkberry on 1/31/09. Credit: WENN.com

When you look at the claims of the two nannies suing Rob Lowe for harassment they hardly seem to have much merit at all. Jessica Gibson worked for the Lowes for seven years, returning once by choice. She filed suit this spring against Lowe, claiming that he sexually harassed and fondled her. The Lowes have filed a counter suit, and have multiple witnesses and fellow employees who attest to Gibson’s very sexually-charged unprofessional behavior on the job. What’s more is that Gibson is represented by press-hungry lawyer Gloria Allred, who is also representing a second nanny suing the Lowes. The other nanny doesn’t claim that Rob Lowe harassed her, but rather that it was his wife Sheryl who created a hostile work environment by opening discussing her sex life and occasionally walking around naked.

Neither nanny ever lodged a complaint with any of their supervisors on the job nor did they inform authorities. Jessica Gibson’s family was completely surprised by her lawsuit and say she never gave any indication that there was harassment on the job. Her own sister provided a written declaration that Jessica told her that if “the Lowes had just paid her the $200 that she said they owed her, none of this would have happened,” meaning she never would have filed the lawsuit.

Despite all the evidence that both suits are completely frivolous, the Lowes have had to spend tens of thousands to defend themselves and Rob’s career has suffered as a result. He filed papers in the case claiming that he’s lost about a million in commercial endorsements, probably in Japan as TMZ mentions.

The Lowes have also filed statements saying that it was the second nanny, not her employer Sheryl, who openly discussed sex in the house and that she was warned about it by her supervisor on the job. Lawyer Gloria Allred of course said that she’ll be responding to that shortly:

Rob Lowe fired back Wednesday at a former nanny accusing him and his wife of harassment, alleging it was the nanny – and not his wife – who used a racial slur and behaved inappropriately.

In a response to Laura Boyce’s claims against Lowe and wife Sheryl, the actor filed sworn statements in a Los Angeles Superior Court from people who knew and worked with Boyce.

“Laura would use the ‘n-word’ a lot when referring to her African-American friends and lovers,” Boyce’s former friend Noa Shaw said in her statement. “Laura was very open with her use of the ‘n-word’ in public.”

In addition, the president of Lowe’s production company, Jennifer Dynof, said in statement she had reprimanded Boyce “about her use of the (“n” word) around the children and the Lowe’s friends.”

Dynof also disciplined Boyce, 38, for openly taking about Boyce’s sex life in the Lowe household.

Boyce’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, told PEOPLE: “We will be filing our reply to (Lowe’s allegations) within five days and it will contain our response.”

[From People]

Rob Lowe gets raked over the coals by two former employees who seem to be working together to try and wring some money out of him and his career is tanking as a result. Both of the women and their lawyer should be financially responsible for his legal fees and the damage he’s suffered once these cases are thrown out of court. They never seemed credible but still the cases are dragging on, costing the Lowes money and their reputations. If anything the Lowes are guilty of being too trusting when hiring employees.

Rob Lowe is shown looking a little too thin at the Stand Up To Cancer benefit on 9/5/08. Credit: GL/PRPhotos. He is shown below with wife Sheryl at a charity event on 10/23/04. Credit: Lee Roth / RothStock / PR Photos

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.

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.