LeAnn Rimes sues over phone call; enters treatment
LOS ANGELES (AP) - LeAnn Rimes sued two women she claims illegally recorded a phone conversation with her and posted snippets online, one day after she sought professional help for anxiety and stress.
Rimes sued Kimberly Smiley and her adult daughter Lexi on Thursday, seeking more than $25,000 in damages for recording a March phone conversation that ended up online on websites bashing the country singer.
Kimberly Smiley denied she posted the recording, saying she shared it with online acquaintances, one of whom played it for the ex-wife of Rimes' husband, Eddie Cibrian. "The whole thing is just ridiculous," she said. "It's just a celebrity who's too full of herself."
The invasion of privacy lawsuit came one day after Rimes, 30, entered an in-patient treatment facility in what her publicist Marcel Pariseau describes an attempt to "learn and develop coping mechanisms."
Pariseau says Rimes isn't seeking treatment for an eating disorder or substance abuse, adding that "while privacy isn't expected, it's certainly appreciated."
The recorded phone call occurred because a friend of Rimes connected the singer and Smiley to try to stop some negative online postings, according to the lawsuit and an interview with Smiley.
It is illegal in California for a party to record a phone call without the other person's knowledge.
"The making of the unauthorized recording and the posting of it and edited excerpts of it on various websites have resulted in a public and damaging depiction of Ms. Rimes, have harmed her reputation and personal relationships, and have caused her emotional distress," the lawsuit states.
Rimes and Cibrian were married in April 2011 and their relationship has remained a subject of tabloid fascination, due in part to them being married to other people when it started.
Kimberly Smiley, who is a schoolteacher in Northern California, said she has been on the receiving end of bullying from Rimes' supporters and has kept her Twitter and a YouTube post of the call on private settings. She said she shared the call with others but did not sell the recording, which she said her daughter made because of some "outrageous" things the singer was saying.
"I truly think this is a PR attempt to get people to think she's been victimized," she said.
Rimes' lawsuit states the singer is entitled to triple her actual damages if she wins at trial, and she is also seeking punitive damages and an order blocking the recording from being distributed further. Smiley questioned how much Rimes would be able to actually collect and said she was embarrassed to be involved in the dustup.
Rimes is keeping her weekend tour commitments through September during breaks from treatment.
Rimes sued Kimberly Smiley and her adult daughter Lexi on Thursday, seeking more than $25,000 in damages for recording a March phone conversation that ended up online on websites bashing the country singer.
Kimberly Smiley denied she posted the recording, saying she shared it with online acquaintances, one of whom played it for the ex-wife of Rimes' husband, Eddie Cibrian. "The whole thing is just ridiculous," she said. "It's just a celebrity who's too full of herself."
The invasion of privacy lawsuit came one day after Rimes, 30, entered an in-patient treatment facility in what her publicist Marcel Pariseau describes an attempt to "learn and develop coping mechanisms."
Pariseau says Rimes isn't seeking treatment for an eating disorder or substance abuse, adding that "while privacy isn't expected, it's certainly appreciated."
The recorded phone call occurred because a friend of Rimes connected the singer and Smiley to try to stop some negative online postings, according to the lawsuit and an interview with Smiley.
It is illegal in California for a party to record a phone call without the other person's knowledge.
"The making of the unauthorized recording and the posting of it and edited excerpts of it on various websites have resulted in a public and damaging depiction of Ms. Rimes, have harmed her reputation and personal relationships, and have caused her emotional distress," the lawsuit states.
Rimes and Cibrian were married in April 2011 and their relationship has remained a subject of tabloid fascination, due in part to them being married to other people when it started.
Kimberly Smiley, who is a schoolteacher in Northern California, said she has been on the receiving end of bullying from Rimes' supporters and has kept her Twitter and a YouTube post of the call on private settings. She said she shared the call with others but did not sell the recording, which she said her daughter made because of some "outrageous" things the singer was saying.
"I truly think this is a PR attempt to get people to think she's been victimized," she said.
Rimes' lawsuit states the singer is entitled to triple her actual damages if she wins at trial, and she is also seeking punitive damages and an order blocking the recording from being distributed further. Smiley questioned how much Rimes would be able to actually collect and said she was embarrassed to be involved in the dustup.
Rimes is keeping her weekend tour commitments through September during breaks from treatment.
What normal person records someones phone conversation then posts it on the internet whether private or publically? This sounds like something a bullying teenager would do, not two sane grown ass women.Â
Â
These women sound very sick in the head, and weird. I love how they're turning her lawsuit around and blaming her when they're in the wrong.Â
Can't stand her. She is a nasty, spiteful, home wrecking, ho.
Yeah, even though Rimes is a cheating sleezeball, the law is on her side if the conversation was in fact recorded without her knowledge.
Â
Poor kid. She probably checked into rehab because she is still suffering from the stress of effing around with someone else's husband, while being married herself.
Â
Sounds like a country song, doesn't it?
Â
Next!
Your so right, she is a sleazeball.
I don't know about Rimes being unhealthy. Look at the picture - I'd hit that!
@KOMO_Sapiens Maybe...if it wasn't for that face...
@KOMO_Sapiens ;)
Same... regardless of your celebrity status, recording a phone conversation without consent is illegal. I'm indifferent about Ms. Rimes and her "indiscretions", but Ms. Smiley is in the wrong keeps sounding more guilty by each defensive statement. It's funny how she says that she thinks this is a PR attempt on Rimes' behalf, when it was actually Smiley's attempt to get her 15 minutes.
Bottom line: "It is illegal in California for a party to record a phone call without the other person's knowledge".
"I truly think this is a PR attempt to get people to think she's been victimized,"Â
Â
If they recorded her during a phone conversations without telling her, she HAS been victimized. Â And on top of that, they had the audacity to post and share the taping. Â GO GET 'EM, Leann! Â
It's so sad when a preson can't even talk on the phone without it being put on the internet. I hope she's actually in treatment for eating disorders. She looks good in this picture on the article, but other times I see her as skin and bones!