The bitter dispute between pop star Vanessa Amorosi and her mother over the singer’s fortune has been laid bare in emails submitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The emails show Amorosi’s mounting emotions as her initial despair turns to anger during a heated argument with her estranged mother, Joyleen Robinson, over money and property in Australia and the United States.
The emails, which include Amorosi telling his mother: “This is bullshit, and you know it” and “I’m not going to play these games,” were released in a court ruling on Thursday.
Although Justin Steven Moore ruled in favor of Amorosi, who was in California and did not attend court, the victory came with one condition: He was ordered to pay his mother nearly $870,000.
The legal battle between the couple is far from over, as Amorosi’s lawyers are now battling with her mother and stepfather’s legal team over who will be responsible for paying court costs.
Vanessa Amorosi (pictured) has won a legal battle against her mother over ownership of two properties. Email exchanges between the couple during the dispute can now be exposed
In the emails, Amorosi tells his mother Joyleen Robinson (above, testifying in court last year) that “this is nonsense and you know it” and “I’m not going to play these games.”
Amorosi, 43, is suing her mother over property purchased with proceeds from her album sales and tour fees, including an eight-hectare farm in Narre Warren, southeast of Melbourne, and her current residence in California.
The properties were acquired during the height of Amorosi’s career two decades ago, around the time he released the hits “Absolutely Everybody” and “Shine.”
The deterioration in her relationship with her mother appears to have been triggered by a strident email from her stepfather, Peter Robinson.
Mr. Robinson sent a series of direct questions about money, bank deposits and real estate, ending the email with: “I am asking these questions to try to prevent further disaster.”
Amorosi responded the next day, saying, ‘It makes me feel like I’m stealing my own money from you.
“How about… you guys keep the money and we all call it a day?”
Judge Moore on Thursday ruled in favour of Amorosi, who often cried as she testified last October in Victoria’s Supreme Court (above), but ordered her to pay her mother $870,000.
The Amorosi family’s former home in Narre Warren, south-east of Melbourne, was one of two properties up for grabs in the family feud.
After a seven-month estrangement, Amorosi approached her mother again in November 2015, telling her, “I’m still not over what happened seven months ago.
‘I was worried about not having any assets, but I managed because I had money left in my account.’
In the days leading up to Christmas that same year, Amorosi fumed: “I never get a clear answer. Let me know when you bother to explain it to me.”
After dismissing Ms Robinson’s response as “bullshit” and demanding to see documentation, the artist described the dispute as “crazy” and said: “I’m the one left with nothing after 15 years of working like a donkey.”
She signed it simply saying, “No reply necessary.”
In court, Ms Robinson argued that the Narre Warren property should belong to her since she had paid her daughter the $650,000 they agreed to in 2001.
But Judge Moore ruled Thursday that the alleged agreement between the couple never occurred and that Amorosi should have full ownership of the property.
Amorosi said the $650,000 used to buy the Narre Warren home in 2001 came from a trust account set up to receive all of his profits.
The house was in her and her mother’s names, and Ms Robinson alleged that Amorosi agreed to give her full ownership of the Narre Warren home if she paid $650,000 on demand.
Mrs Robinson said the agreement was made in February 2001 during a conversation in the kitchen of her former family home.
Ms Robinson said she gave Amorosi $710,000 in 2014 for the loan he took out on his US home, thus fulfilling her part of the housing agreement.
But Amorosi told the court she should have full ownership since there was never any agreement.
The singer also sought to be the sole owner of her current California residence, which was purchased through a trust account set up by her mother with her stepfather as sole director.
While ruling that the alleged “Narre Warren agreement” did not exist, His Honor agreed that Ms. Robinson should receive restitution for the contribution she made to the Amorosi estate in 2014.
“The shifting and inconsistent course of Ms Robinson’s testimony leaves me entirely unconvinced that there was an agreement with Narre Warren as alleged,” the judge said in his reasons.
“I did not consider Ms Robinson to be a reliable witness in her statement to the court.”
Amorosi, 43, testified that he had made “millions” in some years of his recording career, and that all of his earnings from an early age had gone into a trust controlled by his mother.
He ordered Amorosi to pay his mother $650,000 plus $219,486.33 in interest.
Mrs. Robinson was also not present, although some members of her family witnessed the event.
The ruling ended a legal battle that began in March 2021, when Amorosi filed a case before the Supreme Court, and which resulted in a five-day trial in October last year.
Amorosi and her mother testified, and the artist burst into tears during questioning by her mother’s lawyers.
She said that from a very young age her mother had maximum control over her finances and entrusted her with the money from her recording career, with which in some years she earned ‘millions’.
Judge Moore noted in his sentencing that Amorosi had “released her first single while still at school and living at her home on the Narre Warren property”.
She said that at the age of 19, she had sung at the opening of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, performing ‘Heroes Live Forever’.
Amorosi hit the big time in 1999 with her debut single, ‘Have a Look’, which reached gold status in Australia, and then achieved international success with her debut studio album, The Power.
‘Absolutely Everybody’ became a hit in many European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany.
Their combined album and single sales have surpassed two million worldwide.