Vanessa Amorosi’s homeless mum Joyleen makes a truly shocking claim about her pop star daughter  – as she breaks her silence while clearing out her home

EXCLUSIVE 

The mother of Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi claims the star suffered a brain aneurysm that ‘changed’ her and prompted their relationship breakdown. 

Joyleen Robinson now faces an uncertain future after a judge ruled she must move out of the sprawling home she has lived in with her family since 2001. 

In an exclusive interview, Ms Robinson told Daily Mail Australia she is convinced her daughter suffered the brain injury more than eight years ago and wiped part of her memory.

‘It was before she had her son [Killian], who is about eight now. She changed after that,’ she said.

‘She didn’t tell me about how serious the brain aneurysm was because she didn’t want to make me upset. 

‘She knew if she told me how bad it was I would have been on the next plane out of here.’ 

Draped in a sky blue dressing gown and pink moccasins, Ms Robinson was packing up a lifetime’s worth of belongings from the Narre Warren North property, in Melbourne’s south-east, on Thursday.

She doesn’t know where they – or her – will end up next.

Her Absolutely Everybody star daughter sued her for sole ownership of two properties last year after the pair had a falling out almost a decade earlier about what had happened to her early 2000s music earnings.

One was Amorosi’s current home in California while the second was the semi-rural Narre Warren property.

Last month, Supreme Court Justice Steven Moore ruled Amorosi was entitled to the properties but would have to pay her mum almost $870,000 in restitution.

Before speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Robinson made it clear she would never intend to hurt her daughter or say a negative word about her. 

‘I just want people to know that Vanessa was the most beautiful, loyal and giving person you could ever ask for.’

But Ms Robinson also wanted it known what kind of mum she was and how a tragic set of circumstances saw her tight bond with ‘Ness’ destroyed. 

Upon learning of Amorosi’s illness through her husband, Ms Robinson said she was torn because her other daughter was struggling at the time with her own problems. 

‘Because Vanessa kept playing everything down, “No mum everything is alright, I’m on tablets, everything is working” … it changed. She changed. I think she changed,’ Ms Robinson said. 

The pair have not spoken to each other now for about 15 years. 

‘Not even one word,’ Ms Robinson said. ‘Vanessa was a beautiful daughter when she lived in Australia. I can’t explain how close we all were. 

‘We were like one person in all these different bodies. Especially with me, Vanessa and Peter (Ms Robinson’s electrical engineer husband).’

Uncertain future

Ms Robinson said she still had no idea where she was going to live or what she was going to do with her possessions. 

‘I’ve got two speed boats, a jet ski, I’ve got a horse no-one wants to own,’ she said. 

Among the items are many of Amorosi’s own, including a motorbike and her last remaining horse. 

‘I’ve still got a lot of Vanessa’s trinkets from when she was a young girl. Her diaries and all that stuff. What do I do with that? Do I move with that as well?’ Ms Robinson said.  

Her adult son, aged 27, will also need to find a new home. 

On Thursday, the household was already close to being packed away. 

Mr Robinson had even drained the pool, which was a well-used and beloved feature of the property. 

‘I haven’t got a plan to be honest at all. Because my family and I have been here for over 20-something years,’ she said. 

The likely plan will see Ms Robinson and her husband move in temporarily with another daughter while they get back on their feet. 

‘We all get along fabulously and my grandson can’t wait for me to move in,’ she said.

‘Where there’s a will there’s a way. And it’s not going to break us as a family … Vanessa was part of that very close knit family. 

‘She was like a second mum. I was the mum, but she was the second mum. The girls would go to her sometimes before coming to me. 

‘I’m a survivor. I will survive no matter what happens because I’ve got two beautiful daughters that will help me, my son that I love.’  

Bankruptcy fears 

In addition to losing her home, Ms Robinson fears the $870,000 in restitution her daughter has been ordered to pay her will amount to little should she be ordered to pay her legal costs. 

Amorosi had employed a team of lawyers, including an expensive King’s Counsel – a senior court lawyer. 

‘That’s my worry now because I’m waiting to see if I’ve got to pay half or all of her expenses. They haven’t worked that out yet,’ Ms Robinson said. 

‘Every time we’ve gone to court she’s paid a King’s Counsel, a barrister, a junior barrister, her lawyer. Silly me goes with one barrister.’

Ms Robinson said bills from lawyers have continued to come in the mail months after the trial ended. 

‘I’ll go pretty close to bankrupt,’ she said.  

Legal drama 

In court, Ms Robinson was taken to task in the witness box by her daughter’s barrister Philip Solomon KC. 

The experienced lawman verbally grilled the elderly cleaner, who had popped a sedative on her first day in the box due to uncontrollable nerves. 

Ms Robinson said her case was thwarted just two weeks before it was set to go to court when her barrister of the previous two years withdrew amid claims he had a conflict of interest. 

‘I got an inheritance from my mum and that whole inheritance went to that first lawyer,’ she said. 

‘And two weeks before we had to go to court the first time he went and got his name taken off our case.

‘I wasted a lot of money on these guys. God is looking after me because, and it’s horrible to say this, but if mum didn’t give me money in the will I wouldn’t have been able to have fought anything.

‘But (her eventual lawyers) were lovely guys, really worked their butts off to try to get to know the case. They had less than two weeks and they didn’t want any money up front.’  

Forgotten deal 

Ms Robinson said when her daughter bought the Narre Warren property they had effectively co-existed as one unit. 

The home had long been admired by Ms Robinson as she drove past it to take Amorosi to her ballet classes. 

The family lived in nearby Emerald at the time. 

‘I used to always say to the three girls “what a beautiful house, what a beautiful property’. So when it came on the market Vanessa remembered it was the house I wanted, so she bought it,’ Ms Robinson said. 

Amorosi had never actually ever lived in the home, Ms Robinson said. 

‘She’s visited, she’s stopped over when she’s come for gigs from America, but it’s always been the family home,’ she said. 

Brokenhearted 

Ms Robinson said the case filed by her daughter continued to puzzle her. 

She said she managed Amrosi’s career up until she hit the big time in 1999 with the release of her debut single, Have A Look, which reached gold status in Australia.

The following year, she achieved international success with her debut studio album, The Power.

Amorosi performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Her performance of Heroes Live Forever at the opening ceremony gained international acclaim.

But it was her song Absolutely Everybody that became an unofficial anthem of the Games and went on to be a major hit in Australia and many European countries, including the Britain and Germany.

Her combined album and single sales have surpassed two million worldwide.

‘I managed her free of charge because she’s my daughter and I loved her. I love her to pieces and these are the things you do for your kids,’ Ms Robinson said.

Ms Robinson said her second husband treated Amorosi like his own daughter, building arenas for her and a massive outside deck for her home in Officer. 

‘He loved Vanessa. Anything she wanted, change a tyre, he was there and because he’s been hurt so much by what’s happened, he’s not so ready to run for the other two daughters … he’s still there for them,’ she said. 

Ms Robinson said she would reconcile with her estranged daughter in a heartbeat. 

‘I would tomorrow. “Hey Vanessa come round and have a coffee. Let’s go”, but Vanessa won’t. I pray and hope (that I’ll see her again),’ she said.  

Marriage pains 

Ms Robinson said she had endured an abusive relationship with Amorosi’s father – lounge singer Frank Amorosi. 

‘I was punched, hit, kicked, brutalised and I was treated like s***, but I did have a beautiful mother and father-in-law,’ she said. 

Her eventual split with the thug, who died in 2016 aged 60, saw Ms Robinson forced to pay him out for their first home. 

‘I had to get a job, I had three little girls, my youngest was only two, I had to have three jobs to pay the loan to keep the house for my kids to live in, but my kids never missed anything,’ Ms Robinson said. 

‘They still did their singing, dance concerts, dance lessons – Vanessa is a qualified ballerina – and I paid for all that … cos that’s what mum’s do.’

Ms Robinson refused to speak ill of her late ex-husband, simply describing it as ‘not the greatest time of (her) life’. 

The struggling single mum met her second husband while working at a Billabong family bistro – an iconic 1990s restaurant chain. 

With some money he brought into the relationship the couple were able to pay off the Emerald property, which they eventually sold and moved into a home in Narre Warren North – the same suburb she now resides within. 

‘We were happy there. It was a lovely house and then Vanessa started singing and we were driving her everywhere … but this is the stuff that nobody knows what I’ve done,’ Ms Robinson said. 

Fan backlash 

Ms Amorosi said the backlash from Amorosi fans had been brutal since news leaked about the feud. 

‘All the fans that abuse me, they don’t know what I’ve done,’ Ms Robinson said. 

The heartbroken mum said most fans read stories about stars being taken advantage of by their parents and believe she fits that mould. 

‘You see it in the media, but you really don’t know. I mean Britney Spears, you don’t what that father had to go through,’ she said. 

‘He probably tried to do the best for his daughter that he could.’

Ms Robinson said the fans had no idea of what she did behind the scenes to help her daughter’s dreams come true. 

She added: ‘Nobody knows what I went through to make my daughter what she is today. 

I’ve sacrificed a lot and I did that because I love her to death and she was the most beautiful daughter you could ever have.’