The Kilmainham-bound Leonard Cohen is in court this week giving evidence in his harassment case against Kelley Lynch, his former manager and lover who’s accused of stealing $5 million from him while he was on a Zen Buddhist retreat in a monastery near LA.
“I hired her to be my business manager in 1988 or 1989, to take care of all the business ... I trusted her," the 77-year-old star said on the third day of the Los Angeles County Superior Court trial. "There was an intimate relationship, yes. It involved a sexual relationship, yes. I don't remember the time when it ended. Like many relationships it just dissolved.
Previously ordered by a judge in 2005 to pay Cohen $9.5 million in damages, 55-year-old Lynch is alleged to have made disparaging remarks about the singer in a series of phone calls and emails.
“It’s not a pleasant sensation,” Cohen says. “Ms. Lynch routinely accused me of being a drug addict and many other things. Of course I didn’t like it, and I felt my reputation was being assailed and the reputation of my family.”
The case continues. Meanwhile, a third Royal Hospital Kilmainham show goes on general sale next Wednesday at 9 am sharp.