Shepard-Brookman says O’Donnell “publicly accused Ms. Brookman of betraying professional and personal confidences and leaking certain sensitive information to the media” in a meeting in January with producers including executive producer Bill Wolff (who himself left in August). O’Donnell’s lawyer has refuted the claims.
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Lou Rocco/AP O’Donnell grabbed the arms of the chair in which Shepard-Brookman was sitting while “aggressively and loudly” berating her, the court paper states.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, former The View producer Jennifer Shepard-Brookman alleges that Rosie O’Donnell maliciously slandered her and got her fired from the show.
“She was scared of Rosie and thought she was going to be assaulted”, said Shepard-Bookman’s attorney, Brian Kennedy, about an incident between O’Donnell and Shepard-Brookman last September, according to Page Six.
O’Donnell was angry that Shepard-Brookman shifted coverage of the ISIS beheading of United States journalist James Foley to co-host Whoopi Goldberg.
Shepard-Brookman says former View co-host O’Donnell is a bully and “accused Ms. Brookman of teaming with Ms. Goldberg to undermine Ms. O’Donnell”, the complaint reads.
Though reps for both O’Donnell and O’Neal have repeatedly denied the affair, the two were spotted on vacation earlier this year and even Chelsea O’Donnell also admitted that the actress would call her mom all the time.
“My client started crying”.
Shepard-Brookman, in the papers, said O’Donnell began screaming at her “that she “owned” the story”.
ABC top brass then terminated Shepard-Brookman.
O’Donnell’s attorney told the Hollywood Reporter that the allegations made in the suit are “baseless”.
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The Emmy-winning producer, who had worked on “The View” for 14 years, is seeking unspecified compensatory damages against O’Donnell, who she alleges blames her for leaking information about behind-the-scenes drama to the press during O’Donnell’s second tour of duty on the morning gab fest.
