Vanessa Amorosi’s Emails to Her Mother Over Property Dispute

The bitter battle between pop star Vanessa Amorosi and her mother over the singer’s fortune has been exposed in emails lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The emails show Amorosi’s emotions rising as her initial despair turns to anger during a heated argument with her estranged mother, Joyleen Robinson, over money and assets in Australia and the United States.

The emails, in which Amorosi tells her mother: “This is nonsense, and you know it” and “I don’t play these kinds of games,” were made public in a court ruling on Thursday.

Although Justin Steven Moore ruled in favor of Amorosi, who was in California and did not attend the trial, the victory came with a catch: she had to pay her mother nearly $870,000.

The legal battle between the two is far from over. Amorosi’s lawyers are now battling her mother and stepfather’s legal team over who should pay the legal costs.

Vanessa Amorosi (pictured) has won a legal battle against her mother over the ownership of two properties. Email exchanges between the two during the dispute could now be exposed

In the emails, Amorosi tells her mother Joyleen Robinson (above, testifying in court last year) that “this is bullshit and you know it” and “I don’t play these games.”

Amorosi, 43, sued her mother over properties she bought with proceeds from album sales and touring expenses, including an eight-acre farm in Narre Warren, southeast of Melbourne, and her current home in California.

The properties were purchased during Amorosi’s peak twenty years ago, around the time she released the hits ‘Absolutely Everybody’ and ‘Shine’.

The deteriorating relationship with her mother appears to have been triggered by a shrill email from her stepfather, Peter Robinson.

Mr. Robinson asked a number of pointed questions about money, bank deposits and real estate, ending the email with, “I am asking these questions to prevent further disaster.”

Amorosi responded the next day, saying, “I feel like I’m stealing my own money from you.

“How about we just… keep the money and then call it quits?”

A graphic mock-up of excerpts from three emails Vanessa Amorosi sent to her mother Joyleen in December 2015 during their dispute over properties purchased with the singer’s recording assets

Judge Moore on Thursday ruled in favour of Amorosi, who was often in tears as she gave evidence in the Supreme Court of Victoria in October last year (above), but ordered her to pay her mother $870,000

The Amorosi family’s former home in Narre Warren, south-east of Melbourne, was one of two properties fought over in the family feud

After a seven-month estrangement, Amorosi reconnected with her mother in November 2015, saying, “I still haven’t gotten over what happened seven months ago.

‘I was worried that I wouldn’t have any assets, but I was able to survive because I still had money in my account.’

In the days leading up to Christmas that same year, Amorosi was furious: ‘I never get a straight answer. Let me know when you’re going to bother explaining it.’

After dismissing Mrs Robinson’s response as “bullsh*t” and demanding to see the paperwork, the artist described the dispute as “crazy” and said: “I’m the one who’s left empty-handed after 15 years of hard work.”

She concluded with the simple words, “No reason to respond.”

Mrs Robinson argued in court that the Narre Warren estate was hers because she had paid her daughter the $650,000 they had agreed to in 2001.

But Judge Moore ruled Thursday that the alleged agreement between the two never took place and that Amorosi should be given full ownership of the property.

Amorosi said the $650,000 she used to buy Narre Warren’s house in 2001 came from an escrow account set up to receive all of her income.

The house was in her name and that of her mother. Mrs Robinson alleged that Amorosi had agreed to transfer full ownership of the house in Narre Warren if she paid $650,000 when asked.

Mrs Robinson claimed the agreement was made in February 2001 during a conversation in the kitchen of their former family home.

Ms. Robinson said she handed over $710,000 to Amorosi in 2014 toward the loan she took out for her U.S. home, fulfilling her housing pact obligations.

However, Amorosi told the court that she had full ownership rights as no agreement had ever been reached.

The singer also sought to become the sole owner of her current California home, which she purchased through an escrow account opened by her mother, with her stepfather as the sole director.

Although the alleged ‘Narre Warren agreement’ did not exist, the Honourable Member agreed that Mrs Robinson should receive restitution for the contribution she made to Amorosi’s property in 2014.

“Given the variable and inconsistent nature of Mrs Robinson’s evidence, I am utterly unconvinced that there was a Narre Warren agreement as alleged,” the judge said in his reasoning.

“I did not find Ms. Robinson to be a reliable witness in her statement to the court.”

Amorosi, 43, testified that she made “millions” over several years of her recording career, with all of her earnings from a young age being put into a trust managed by her mother

He ordered Amorosi to pay her mother $650,000 plus $219,486.33 in interest.

Mrs. Robinson herself was not present, although a number of family members were watching.

The ruling ended a legal battle that began in March 2021, when Amorosi filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, and which culminated in a five-day trial in October last year.

Amorosi and her mother both gave statements, with the actress breaking down in tears during cross-examination by her mother’s lawyers.

She said her mother had ultimate control over her finances from an early age and managed the money from her recording career, which in some years earned her “millions.”

Judge Moore noted in his judgment that Amorosi “had released her first single while still at school and living at home in Narre Warren’s home”.

He said that at the age of 19 she sang at the opening of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, performing the song “Heroes Live Forever.”

Amorosi broke through in 1999 with her debut single, “Have a Look,” which went gold in Australia. She then achieved international success with her debut studio album, The Power.

‘Absolutely Everybody’ was released in many European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

She has sold more than two million albums and singles worldwide.