Lady Gaga Sued By Ex-Boyfriend For $30 Million

Becky Bain | March 19, 2010 1:06 pm

Lady Gaga is being sued for $30.5 million by her former boyfriend and business partner who describes the pop star as a “woman scorned.” Talk about a bad romance.

Lady Gaga—who was then simply known as Stefani Germanotta—met music producer and songwriter Rob Fusari when she was 20-years old. He was trying to put together an “an all-girl version of the Strokes,” and according to Rolling Stone, the first time Gaga showed up at his house to collaborate, Rob was shocked at what he saw:

“’Fusari was expecting someone a little more grunge-rocker than the young Italian girl ‘guidette’ that arrived at his doorstep and was worried that he had made a mistake,’ the suit contends. Recognizing Gaga’s ability, Fusari claims he helped craft Gaga’s songwriting to something with more of a dance feel.”

The two became involved in both a business and personal relationship, and Fusari ended up co-wroting “Paparazzi” and three other tracks on The Fame. When Gaga gained and lost a record deal with Island Def Jam Records, Fusari wanted to end things romantically and just carry on as business partners. Gaga was allegedly “verbally abusive” to him and once she got another record deal, she stopped returning his phone calls.

Fusari, who insists that he came up with the moniker “Lady Gaga,” claims he entered into a contract with Gaga in 2006 guaranteeing him a portion of her merchandising and revenue. His lawyer Robert Meloni borrowed a quote from the play The Mourning Bride to begin his lawsuit: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” (Seriously, dude? Why not just quote the lyrics to Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” while you’re at it?)

He goes on to say, “All business is personal. When those personal relationships evolve into romantic entanglements, any corresponding business relationship usually follows the same trajectory so that when one crashes, they all burn. That is what happened here.” So basically, he claims that Gaga was majorly pissed the relationship ended and remained so bitter after the break-up, she refused to give him the money owed him.

Lady Gaga’s camp is not commenting on the lawsuit. But we wouldn’t be surprised if the revenge fantasy of murdering her boyfriend in the “Paparazzi” video was drawn from real-life events.