Vanessa Amorosi’s bitter feud with her mother has reached a boiling point as the Australian singer is set to spill the beans in a Supreme Court case.
Amorosi, 42, filed a lawsuit against her estranged mother Joyleen Robinson in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2021, alleging “unconscionable conduct.”
On Tuesday, the court heard the singer believed her mother had exploited her wealth at the height of her popularity when she was a teenager.
Singer Vanessa Amorosi (pictured) filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Victoria against her mother Joyleen Robinson, claiming she was living solely on her career earnings
Amorosi, who flew to Australia from her home in Los Angeles to attend the trial, will take the witness stand on Thursday where she is expected to outline allegations about how she claims her mother cheated on her.
The court heard Amorosi became suspicious of her mother’s handling of her assets in 2014 when she hired forensic accountants to investigate her mother’s handling of her assets.
Seven years later, she hired lawyers and filed a 213-paragraph statement of claim with the Supreme Court.
Mediation between the parties significantly reduced this claim, but a dispute remains over two properties to which Amorosi claims her mother has no claim.
One of these houses is the cottage in Narre Warren North which was recently raided by police.
The second is Amorosi’s home in the US, owned by a family business that also owes $650,000 to the Westpac bank.
Amorosi’s lawyer Philip Solimon, KC, told the court that the singer wanted control of both the property and the debts.
The court heard Ms Robinson faced an uphill battle in defending the claim after she was forced to quit her lawyers in August over fears of conflicts of interest.
A lawyer she hired for Tuesday’s hearing told the court he had only been instructed to apply for her unsuccessful request for an adjournment.
Judge Steven Moore had spoken harshly about the adjournment request and ordered Ms Robinson to pay her daughter’s legal costs for the day for even trying.
Ms Robinson (pictured outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday) has been accused of cheating on her daughter
In Amorosi’s original statement of claim, she alleged that her mother took advantage of her finances in September 1999, when she was 17 and just getting her big break.
But in a counterclaim denying she deprived her of the funds, Ms Robinson claimed the singer had breached an agreement they had made over the Narre Warren North home.
On Saturday, Chron Australia revealed that the 20-hectare Narre Warren North property owned by Amorosi and her mother was raided by heavily armed police.
It can now be announced that police arrested Amorosi’s cousin, Eden Merritt, 34, on April 24 in connection with an ongoing motor vehicle theft investigation.
Merritt and a 24-year-old woman, both from Narre Warren North, were arrested that day.
Merritt appeared at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on July 17, where he was convicted of 50 charges and sent to prison for a year.
Charges included possession of methylamphetamine and weapons, car theft, larceny, handling stolen goods and committing crimes while in custody for fraud.
Chron Australia is not claiming that the Australian star actually lives in the dilapidated shack or that she lived there while Merritt was there.
Nor is it suggested that Amorosi had any knowledge that Merritt was wanted by police before, during, or after his stay at the house.
Amorosi Hut in Narre Warren North is a dark spot in an otherwise picturesque landscape
Vanessa Amorosi has had an impressive music career all over the world since 1999
At the start of the trial, Mr Solimon said his client had been “tremendously” successful over the past 25 years.
In 1999, when Amorosi’s mother was still a teenager, she arranged a meeting with managers and then advised her to protect her income through numerous trust funds.
At the height of her fame, a company called Vanjoy was formed to receive royalties from Amorosis and pay her expenses.
The court heard that Amorosi’s career peaked in 2000 and the following years when she released a series of successful singles.
Mr. Solimon said Amorosi is entitled to a larger share of the Boundary Road property and to the trust that holds her California home.
Ms Robinson and her husband Peter, whom Amorosi treats as her father, continue to live in a property on McKenzie Lane in Narre Warren North, which the couple bought in 1997.
Mr Solimon said the Boundary Road property, purchased in 2001, was currently owned equally by Amorosi and her mother, but he argued she should own a higher percentage.
The hut was originally used by the singer to write and practice her music before it fell into disrepair.
The property was purchased with more than $3 million that Amorosi invested in Vanjoy in the early 2000s, Mr. Solimon said.
In November 1999, Vanessa Amorosi released the hit “Absolutely Everybody,” which immediately catapulted her to music stardom
The court heard that Amorosi’s mother had been tasked with managing and protecting her daughter’s finances for her benefit.
“These were structures that were explained to Vanessa to her advantage at a time in her career where she was extremely successful and it is obvious; and young and if other structures had been created or if those who were supposed to protect them had done so honestly, there would be no controversy 22 years later,” said Mr. Solimon.
The veteran lawyer said Amorosi wanted to remove the Boundary Road property and her stepfather as trustee in control of her US property.
“At the material time, Vanessa was between 18 and 20 years old. She had the right to believe that her mother did what she said and thereby protected her interests,” Mr Solimon said.
Amorosi’s big breakthrough came in 1999 with the release of her debut single “Have a Look”, which achieved 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 Sydney Olympics.
Her performance of “Heroes Live Forever” at the opening ceremony gained international recognition.
But it was their song “Absolutely Everybody” that became the unofficial anthem of the Games and became a huge hit in Australia and many European countries, including Britain and Germany.
Their combined album and single sales exceeded two million worldwide.