Former actress and beauty queen Dindi Gallardo has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit with the Manhattan Supreme Court against her employer, legendary comic book creator Frank Miller, the New York Post reported Wednesday (Thursday Manila time).
The report said the former Binibining Pilipinas-Universe, now 41 and using her real name
Joanna Gallardo-Mills, is “seeking unspecified monetary damages from Miller and his
much younger actress girlfriend Kimberly Cox for discrimination and mental anguish.”
Dindi singled out Cox who “smeared her work area with feces, destroyed her printer with a hammer, threw phones at her, and even left a used feminine hygiene pad by her desk.”
In an earlier interview with Cristina DC Pastor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer only last May,
Dindi proudly disclosed that she has been living in New York for the last 10 years and last year married restaurant consultant Eric Mills.
She also said she “works for a famous artist whose blockbuster movies many of us are familiar with.”
Due to a confidentiality clause in her contract, she could not disclose the details of her
employment, including her employer’s identity which turned out to be Miller, the revered comic book writer considered to be in the same league as Neil Gaiman (“Sandman”) and Alan Moore (“Watchmen”) and is responsible for bestselling graphic novels such as “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” “Sin City” and “300,” all of which were adapted for the big screen.
The Post report said that Dindi was hired as an executive coordinator back in 2008.
“I love New York. I love my job. I can’t get into major details. My boss—he’s pretty big. I’m
like his right-hand person. I work with his team of lawyers, agents, accountants. I’ve been with him 3.5 years,” Dindi said in the same Inquirer interview in reference to her current life and work.
Unfortunately, there’s at least one person in the workplace who didn’t like her and that was Cox, who apparently also works in the same office. The Post report also revealed that the latter had issues with Dindi’s “funky” English accent and continued to make life difficult as they shared the same Hell’s Kitchen living/work space.
When Dindi finally complained to Miller, the report said “he eventually agreed to let her work out of her home to keep her away from Cox.” Miller has yet to react to the lawsuit.
Dindi’s lawyer, Matthew Blit who is described by the Post “as a high-powered employment attorney” commented that “Nobody should have to work under those conditions.”
Cox claims in the same report that Dindi was already offered “a very heavy settlement” but
declined to accept it.
Most of the comments in the news item were sympathetic to Dindi and scornful of Cox.
“The Cox woman seems jealous of pretty exotic ex beauty queen Joanna to the point of paranoia and considered Joanna a threat to her cosy situation with Miller. Good luck Joanna,” said Facebook user Beaudine de Massy.
“Joanna Gallardo-Mills was a former Ms. Philippines who represented the country in the Miss Universe Pageant 1993 in Mexico City. Ms. Cox, ugly as she is in her photo and in her attitude, should really feel insecure,” Richard Caballero weighed in.
“That’s very un humanitarian. It doesn’t matter if Joanna Gallardo-Mills was from the
Philippines. I do believe that NO ONE, no matter what country they came from should be treated like the way she was treated. I hope she’ll get the justice that she deserves,” posted Carina S. Gardow.
source: interaksyon.com
