Rosie O’Donnell Sued By ‘The View’ Ex-Producer Jennifer Brookman For Slander: Brookman Suffered ‘Intense Emotional Distress’ Working With O’Donnell [Video]


Rosie O’Donnell is being sued by an ex-producer of The View after Rosie allegedly had her fired out of spite.

According to Page Six,Rosie was a total bully on The View set before her 2007 and 2015 departures, and targeted ex-producer Jennifer Shepard-Brookman until Brookman became “scared of Rosie and thought she was going to be assaulted,” the lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges.

Brookman is seeking damages for slander, according to Radar Online, after Rosie had her fired and repeatedly confronted Brookman during several interactions over a number of years. Meanwhile, O’Donnell’s lawyer, Nicolle Jacoby, calls the claims “baseless,” reports Page Six.

The lawsuit alleges that O’Donnell incorrectly insinuated that Jennifer, or her teenage son, leaked The View stories to the media, and asserts it was the reason Brookman was fired. According to the Daily Mail, Rosie exhibited “malicious conduct” as she continued to make “false and defamatory statements of fact about Ms Brookman to others in their workplace.”

According to Jennifer’s attorney, because of Rosie O’Donnell, the producer suffered “intense emotional distress, anxiety, and lack of sleep.” The documents also state that Rosie “destroyed [Brookman’s] professional reputation and led to her termination of employment.”

Brookman’s attorney alleges that Rosie “would become upset if she was not granted the coverage she expected,” at times becoming borderline physical. Rosie also repeatedly “accused Jennifer of teaming with Goldberg to undermine O’Donnell.” According to the Daily Mail, Rosie could not handle playing “second fiddle” to Whoopi, but “Rosie wouldn’t dare say anything to Whoopi because she was too afraid of her,” an insider revealed.

A source close to the Rosie O’Donnell and Jennifer Brookman feud admitted to the Daily Mail that the media leaks actually came from Rosie and her staff. According to the Daily Mail, “Rosie’s people started the leaks to the press about the show,” and Rosie “gives her team a lot of room,” and when O’Donnell “tells them to fix something,” Rosie “doesn’t want to know that they do.”

While the lawsuit lists a series of interactions between O’Donnell and Jennifer, an insider told the Daily Mail that “Rosie has an extraordinarily aggressive approach with people” and, during a January, 2015, incident, “Rosie had to be physically restrained from Jennifer,” causing O’Donnell to be dragged away by “her own people.” The insider also revealed to the Daily Mail that “many people witnessed” the tense interaction between O’Donnell and the producer.

Radar Online reports that the lawsuit also contends that Rosie O’Donnell “committed her slander per se by falsely accusing Ms. Brookman of betraying professional and personal confidences and leaking certain sensitive information to the media — an accusation which Ms. Brookman completely denies.”

Interactions between Rosie O’Donnell and Jennifer Brookman first came to a head in 2014, according to Page Six, when Jennifer chose The View co-host, Whoopi Goldberg, to cover the beheading of journalist James Foley by members of ISIS. Rosie reportedly wanted to cover the horrific story, and went into a rage after Brookman handed the reins to Goldberg.

According to the Daily Mail, Brookman’s lawsuit alleges that during the incident, Rosie grabbed “the arms of the chair in which Ms Brookman was sitting, leaning very close to her face.”

O’Donnell then prohibited Jennifer “her from leaving, while continuing to aggressively and loudly berate her for giving the coverage of the story to Ms Goldberg” until Jennifer ” started crying,” afraid that Rosie would physically assault her, according to Brookman’s attorney, Brian Kennedy.

The Daily Mail also reports that Rosie made The View a difficult workplace because “these people at The View were under the thumb of a bully. They were worried about Rosie,” calling O’Donnell “The Beast” because she was so hard to work with.

There’s no information about a trial date for the lawsuit between Jennifer Brookman and Rosie O’Donnell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk9n8jQKHuo

[Photo by Rob Kim / Getty Images]

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