Robert De Niro’s production company must pay ex-assistant Graham Chase Robinson $1.2 million after she wins sexism lawsuit

Robert De Niro’s production company Canal Productions has been found liable for gender discrimination and retaliation against his former assistant Graham Chase Robinson – and ordered to pay her $1.2 million in damages.

The Taxi Driver star, 80, was accused of being an abusive boss in the bombshell trial heard by eight Manhattan Federal Court jurors.

Jurors were dispatched just before noon local time on Thursday after hearing a week and a half of evidence in the $12 million case brought by 41-year-old Robinson.

De Niro denied Robinson’s claims and sued her for $6 million, claiming she stole five million of his air miles.

The iconic actor denied losing his cool with Robinson, but did just that in court, shouting “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!” last week, before apologizing.

In the most stunning claims, Robinson branded her former boss with ‘creepy’ and ‘disgusting’ requests for back pain.

Sobbing as she spoke on Nov. 3, Robinson said, “I said there was a back scratcher he could use instead.” “He said, ‘I prefer the way you do it.'”

“It was creepy, just disgusting.”

The actor insisted there was nothing untoward or sexist about it and that his requests did not constitute gender discrimination.

Robinson also claimed that De Niro labeled her a “bitch” two or three times during the 11 years she worked for him.

She said he accused her of acting “like a little bitch” after a fire broke out in his New York mansion.

Robinson said the slur was used again in December 2017, when De Niro lashed out after being unable to find Christmas presents at his home.

‘He was swearing left and right. I tried to work it out, but he just said I was a bitch.”

Robinson was employed by De Niro’s Canal Pictures and began working there in 2008 as an executive assistant with a salary of $75,000.

By the time she resigned in April 2019, she had been promoted to vice president of production and finance and was paid $300,000 a year.

Robinson was essentially De Niro’s fixer and says she was expected to be available 24/7, 365 days a year to help him with his children, family and medical care.

She also clashed with De Niro’s girlfriend Tiffany Chen after claiming Chen “humiliated” her by forcing her to order vacuum cleaners and organize director Martin Scorsese’s birthday party.

Chen accused Robinson of overspending and branded the former employee “obsessive, psychotic and dangerous” while on the witness stand last week.

Robinson said De Niro held male and female employees to different standards.

‘Female employees were expected to be on call for Bob 24/7. He didn’t expect male employees to be there for him,” she claimed, adding that the Oscar winner referred to his female assistants as “the girls.”

She said, “Men can be unavailable and Bob wouldn’t mind.”

Robinson says she asked for the same salary as colleague Dan Harvey, who is the actor’s personal trainer and has worked with him since 1985.

But she claims De Niro gave a poor excuse for refusing: “Chase, you don’t have children. Dan has a family to support.”

‘It made me so sad. It frustrated me, it made me angry… I was really hurt by that comment,” she told the court. ‘I gave this job my life. I didn’t have children because I worked.’

Her salary was subsequently increased from $200,000 to $300,000, while Harvey was making $290,000 at the time.

De Niro’s attorney Richard Schoenstein questioned Robinson on the stand, asking her, “Did you think you should be paid the same as someone who has worked with Mr. De Niro since you were in kindergarten?”

On Wednesday, the court also heard from De Niro’s personal trainer Harvey, 63, who has also spoken to the actor ahead of filming for the past four decades.

Harvey said he has been a full-time trainer for De Niro since 1985, spending two to seven hours with the actor about 330 days a year and traveling with him to filming locations around the world.

Holding a tissue to her face, Robinson appeared emotional Tuesday as she told the court she feared no one would take her word against De Niro’s.

Her resignation email was shown to the jury and she told De Niro that she had been “loyal, protective, honest and extremely hardworking.”

“I poured my heart and soul into this job and as a result, other parts of my life and opportunities were put on hold. You always came first,” she wrote.

It has been more than three years since she left Canal Productions and in her testimony she said she has applied for 638 jobs since then but has not received a single interview.

She revealed that she suffers from depression, anxiety and insomnia and has to take medication to even leave the apartment she shares with her mother.

‘I have lost my life. I’ve lost my career. I have lost my financial independence. I lost everything,” said Robinson, who is now seeing a therapist.

On Tuesday, Robinson’s psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Goldstein, diagnosed her with generalized anxiety disorder related to her work at Canal.

The practicing psychiatrist said Robinson suffered from the “severe and often debilitating mental illness” after evaluating her in January 2019 and reviewing more than three years of medical records.

He said she suffered from symptoms such as insomnia and memory loss, and “experienced a lot of psychological pain and emotional discomfort,” which began while she was employed by De Niro.

When asked what the trigger for this mental condition was, he said, “Her perception of discrimination and retaliation at her workplace.”

But a psychiatrist hired by De Niro’s lawyers described Robinson as “narcissistic and paranoid.”