R&B diva Patti LaBelle is paying a hefty price for a tantrum she threw in 2010. Rosanna and Kevin Monk filed a lawsuit against LaBelle after the legendary singer directed a profanity filled tirade at Monk and her then 18-month-old daughter Genevieve.
According to Monk’s lawyer, LaBelle will be paying $100,00 to the Monks, which will be donated to charity. “This is an opportunity for Patti LaBelle to help a lot of children, and I feel good about that,” said Monk to the New York Post.
According to Monk’s lawyer, Sam Davis, LaBelle made a wise choice to settle and alleges she would have had a hard time in court. “The jury would be shaking their heads,” said Davis.
Davis claims he would have had Monk’s daughter testify and say, “That mean woman over there, with the 300-pound bodyguard, was yelling at me.”
The incident happened at the Trump Towers in New York, where LaBelle was staying in November 2010 while she was performing in “Fela!” on Broadway. According the New York Post, LaBelle got into a verbal confrontation with Monk during which she called her a “c*nt” and threw water all over Monk. LaBelle was allegedly upset because Monk’s daughter was playing in front of the doors to the building. According to the court papers, little Genevieve has suffered lasting effects from the incident including “personality changes, sleep disorder [and] increased fear of strangers.”
When the case was brought to a federal court in Manhattan last year, LaBelle refused to take the blame for the incident and said she was not “liable in any way for any alleged claims of injury.” She also said the Monk family was “more than 50 percent at fault.”
The New York Post reached out to LaBelle’s publicist and the rep declined to comment.
