Rob Lowe's lawyer: Harassment claims are untrue
Wednesday, 16 Apr 2008 11:32
Rob Lowe's lawyer dismisses former nanny's sexual harassment claims
Legal representatives of actor Rob Lowe have dismissed sexual harassment claims made by his former nanny as "outrageous" and "untrue".
Jessica Gibson has filed a lawsuit in Santa Barbara, California, claiming the West Wing star had touched her inappropriately on several occasions between September 2005 and January 2008.
The 24-year-old nanny, who worked for Lowe and his wife Sheryl on and off over a seven-year period, claims in an 18-page document that Lowe "placed his hand inside Gibson's pants in order to touch her crotch" and "grabbed Gibson's buttocks without consent" on a number of occasions.
Lowe, currently starring in Brothers and Sisters, sued Gibson last week, claiming the nanny had demanded that unless the actor and his wife pay her $1.5 million (£750,000) by April 11th, she would go public with the sexual harassment allegations.
The 44-year-old former Brat Pack star, who played Sam Seaborn in The West Wing, called Gibson's claims "an attempt to damage and humiliate not only my wife and me, but our two young sons as well".
And in a statement released on Tuesday, Lowe's lawyer Stanton 'Larry' Stein has stressed the unfounded nature of the former nanny's allegations.
"Ms Gibson's older sister worked for the Lowes for seven years. Ms Gibson worked for the Lowes on and off for seven years. She left at least two times, to pursue other jobs, and returned each time asking for more hours," he explained.
"She sent two emails the day after she left, both saying she loved the Lowes and her leaving had nothing to do with them but her heart wasn't into being a nanny anymore.
"This is totally inconsistent with her latest allegations. An investigation of dozens of present and former employees has failed to find one single person to verify her allegations. The allegations in the complaint are simply untrue."
Current and former members of staff of Lowe have also come to his defence, with his former estate manager Carol Andrade saying Gibson "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."
Ms Andrade, who supervised the Lowe family's staff over the last 18 months, said Gibson had quit her position on two occasions due to being "burned out" but had returned "on good terms".