Gaga Sued By Former Assistant

Lady Gaga’s former personal assistant has filed a lawsuit that claims she was one heck of a busy assistant, but the pay did not reflect her hours.

Jennifer O’Neill, a former A&R rep whose work history includes Columbia and Arista, estimates she worked 7,168 hours of unpaid overtime when assisting Lady Gaga for 13 months, including during the 2010 Monster Ball tour.

The former assistant is not suing the performer directly but filed, in a Manhattan federal court, against the superstar’s company Mermaid Touring company.

O’Neill had a $75,000 salary but claims it was more than 9-to-5 and is asking for $380,000, according to the New York Post.

Photo: AP Photo

MTV European Music Awards, Odyssey Arena, Belfast, UK

O’Neill’s job was “ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep [Gaga] on schedule” and assisting Gaga everywhere including “stadiums, private jets, fine hotel suites, yachts, ferries, trains and tour buses.”

But that’s not all: O’Neill claims there was no time for meals “or, at times, even sleep” and she was needed during the performer’s “earliest waking hour.” O’Neill is also seeking unspecified damages.

Although this may sound like all-in-a-day’s-pay to many tour managers, it’s not the first time such a complaint has been raised against Gaga. As noted by the Post, Angela Clemny, a former assistant, wrote a book called “Poker Face: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga” in which she says the performer refused to be alone and they would sometimes do makeup together and would even sometimes shower together.

A spokeswoman for Gaga told the newspaper the lawsuit was “completely without merit.”