In a lot of ways, the way that people invest in certain actors is ridiculous. After all, everyone knows that actors are paid to pretend but despite that, a lot of fans want their favorite actors to be like their most famous characters. As a result, when co-stars go on to date, their fans often are very excited. Unfortunately, however, that is relatively rare and a lot of actors are nothing like their famous characters.
From 1996 until 2005, nine seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond aired. During each of the show’s 210 episodes, the series' main stars all came across like good, albeit difficult, people. Unfortunately for anyone who wanted Everybody Loves Raymond’s stars to be as lovable as their characters, that isn’t necessarily the case. In fact, according to a lawsuit, one of the show’s stars actually fired someone because they had a child.
Why An Everybody Loves Raymond Cast Member Allegedly Fired Someone
On the bright side, there is a new opportunity for everyone to find joy in their life every day. However, there is no denying that it can be hard to focus on the best parts of life since there are so many negative headlines. On top of that, a lot of people feel like they spend too much time accomplishing chores to take a moment and reflect on what is right with the world. Of course, if you are a rich and famous celebrity who starred in Everybody Loves Raymond for nine years, you can hire an assistant to take care of your chores for you.
Over the years, there have been a lot of reports of stars crossing the line with their assistants. For example, a surprising amount of celebrities have cheated with their assistants and later been caught. According to an assistant who used to work with Everybody Loves Raymond’s Patricia Heaton, she was mistreated by her former boss.
From 2007 until 2009, Jennifer Lee served as Patricia Heaton’s personal assistant. After Lee left that role, she wound up suing her former boss and she made some incredible claims in the paperwork. At the core of Lee’s lawsuit, she claimed that she was hired to work 15-20 hours a week and she was paid $770 a week expecting to work that much. However, according to Lee, she actually worked much longer hours than that and wasn’t paid for the extra time she put in so she was seeking unpaid wages in court.
Since Patricia Heaton still had lots of fans from her years starring in Everybody Loves Raymond when the lawsuit was filed, the unpaid wages claim was more than enough to garner headlines. However, it was Lee’s other claim that truly seemed incredible. After all, according to Lee’s lawsuit, she approached Heaton about unpaid wages before she was fired and the star’s response was incredible.
In the paperwork that Jennifer Lee filed for her lawsuit against Patricia Heaton, she claimed to have approached her boss about money only for the Everybody Loves Raymond star to fire her. According to the lawsuit, Heaton claimed she needed her assistant to be available at all times so she blamed firing Lee on her spending time with her child “becoming a problem”. In fact, the lawsuit even claimed that when Heaton fired her, she stated that “things might have been different” if Lee wasn’t a mother. Needless to say, the claims in the lawsuit didn’t paint Heaton in the best light.
What Happened To The Lawsuit Against Everybody Love Raymond’s Patricia Heaton?
After Jennifer Lee’s lawsuit against Patricia Heaton was filed, the immediate aftermath was very predictable. After all, Heaton’s camp denied all of the claims in the lawsuit and some people presumed that the assistant was just after all a payout hoping her former boss would settle to avoid negative publicity. After all, many stars have seen their careers decimated by a lawsuit that made them look awful. In response to the people who assumed the worst of Lee, her attorney Amanda Hill defended her client and the claims she was making in a statement.
“Jennifer has demanded to be paid many, many times since January of this year, so this is not a knee-jerk reaction. This isn’t a publicity case. Patricia Heaton is a celebrity, which makes it interesting, and unfortunately the people she chose to surround herself with decided that she didn’t need to pay Jennifer her wages,”
Given the sensational aspects of the claims that Patricia Heaton’s former assistant Jennifer Lee made against her boss, it seemed like the makings of a wild celebrity trial were in the works. After all, other employee lawsuits against their celebrity bosses have been extensively covered in the press. However, that never came to be. Instead, there are no reports of Lee’s lawsuit going to trial online and there aren’t any headlines about a settlement either. With that in mind, one of two things happened. Either Heaton settled the lawsuit or Lee dropped it. Unfortunately, it looks like nobody aside from Lee, Heaton, and the people around them will ever know how things ultimately played out.