Tattle: Kobe's former maid files lawsuit

THERE AREN'T many drawbacks to being rich and famous, but one of them is that you become a target for lawsuits seeking to separate you from your fortune.

Some of these lawsuits are obviously bogus. Others aren't.

And it's so difficult to tell which is which.

Is Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa, the victim here?

Or does she really believe her sh-- don't stink.

That second part is sort of important because a lawsuit filed by the couple's former housekeeper, Maria Jimenez, says that Vanessa ordered her to put her hand in a container of dog waste to retrieve the price tag of a blouse.

Jimenez's suit, filed Friday and first reported by TMZ.com, also contends that she was "harassed and humiliated" and forced to quit because of "intolerable" working conditions.

Maria says in court papers that Vanessa "badgered, harassed and humiliated" her in front of Kobe, the couple's children and others. She said that the couple failed to provide health coverage, as promised when she was hired. She said that she didn't learn that she didn't have it until she became ill and sought medical attention.

The action seeks unspecified general, punitive and special damages, as well as back pay and overtime that Maria says she is owed.

Maria wasn't fired, but her lawyer said she was wrongly discharged because Kobe's wife made it impossible for her to continue working at the couple's Orange County home.

"She quit, but because the working conditions were intolerable," attorney William Vogeler said yesterday. "We allege it was a violation of labor laws that protect people from working in unhealthy situations."

In court papers, Jimenez says that she went to work for the Bryants in September 2007 and left in March 2008. Almost immediately upon starting work, "Vanessa began a continuing pattern of verbally abusing and demeaning her." Jimenez said she was called lazy, slow, dumb, a liar and was cursed and screamed at.

Vanessa sounds like a coach who prefers stick to carrot.

After Jimenez told Kobe that she wanted to quit, he talked her out of it and elicited an apology from his wife, court papers said. But then, Jimenez said, the abuse began again.

According to the papers, Vanessa screamed at Jimenez for putting an expensive blouse in the Bryants' washing machine. "Then Vanessa demanded that she put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve the price tag for the blouse."

Although she gave notice, Jimenez said, Vanessa demanded - and Jimenez says she complied - that she work until her next pay day to cover the $690 cost of the blouse.

In Kobe terms, $690 is called meal money.

The show mustn't go on

Isn't anyone doing original theater anymore?

In a Toronto courtroom yesterday, two co-founders of a hit Broadway theater company were convicted of accounting fraud for overstating their business' finances by millions of dollars for several years.

Uh, fellas, Mel Brooks already did that show. It was called "The Producers." Made a fortune.

Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, co-founders of Livent, a major Broadway player in the 1990s, were convicted of two counts of fraud and one count of forgery. They each face a maximum of 14 years in prison.

They still face charges in the U.S.

In the 85-page ruling, the judge said that the Tony award-winners knowingly submitted financial statements to investors misrepresenting their company's circumstances from 1994 to 1998.

The Toronto company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998 after the fraud was revealed.

More than a decade after the charges first surfaced, the defense argued that Drabinsky and Gottlieb didn't know about the accounting manipulations, and that employees who testified against them did so to minimize their own sentences.

Tattbits

* People.com is reporting that Natasha Richardson's family donated the actress's organs to save other patients' lives.

Citing a "family friend," People.com said that Richardson's family had requested that her organs be donated after she was taken off life support last week.

* The Hollywood Reporter says that Natasha's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, is joining the cast of Ridley Scott's untitled Robin Hood project.

Following her daughter's death, Redgrave had canceled upcoming New York theater work. This big costume adventure is shooting in England and will provide a chance to get away.

She'll play Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of King John. Russell Crowe is Robin Hood. Cate Blanchett is Lady Marion.

* Isaiah Washington's landlord has started an eviction procedure against the former "Grey's Anatomy" star, claiming that he owes $100,000 in rent.

Documents filed in Santa Monica on Tuesday (and first reported by RadarOnline.com) claim that Washington and his wife have fallen behind on their $20,000 a month payments on a home in the Venice area of L.A.

You know, if you're spending $20K per month on rent in this economy, you really should buy.

* Winnie Cooper has wed.

Actress/math whiz Danica McKellar ("The Wonder Years") married composer Mike Verta in a ceremony Sunday in La Jolla, Calif.

She's 34, he's 36.

It took until yesterday for Danica's publicist to get the word out.

* Billboard.com reports that 20 years after their split, British quasi-rockers Spandau Ballet are reforming for the greatest hits world tour they never had.

Tattle takes this to mean that they had another song besides "True."

So far the "world" encompasses only England, Scotland and Ireland.

* Billboard.com also reports that the new Green Day album, "21st Century Breakdown," will drop on May 15. It's the band's first album of new material since 2004's "American Idiot."

The first single, "Know Your Enemy," will go on sale digitally in April.

* HBO hasn't fully signed off on it yet, but Dennis Quaid is set to play President Bill Clinton with Julianne Moore as Hillary in "The Special Relationship."

The special relationship, as you might guess, is not between Bill and Hillary but between Bill and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Blair will be played by Michael Sheen, who also played the PM in "The Queen" and "The Deal."

* The Farrelly brothers have been trying to get a movie about the Three Stooges off the ground for years, and they may have finally cast their knuckleheads.

Believe it or not, Jim Carrey is going to fatten up to play Curly and Oscar-winner Sean Penn is on tap to play Larry.

As Moe? They're hoping for Benicio Del Toro.

Moe-jito?

That's either the most inspired casting in ages or the Farrellys have lost their minds.

* In other Jim Carrey-related news, Shape magazine's cover girl this month is Carrey girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, who says that she likes to keep things fresh in the relationship by occasionally hosting poker night.

(Poker? We barely know her. Rim shot.)

"I just taught him Texas hold 'em," Jenny says. "I think I created a monster.

"He's got the worst poker face; he jumps up and down when he has a good hand!"

Jenny's even trying to get Jim to join her in practicing yoga.

"I've seen him eyeing my toned arms," she says. "I give it six months before I find him twisted into a pretzel!"

* Nickelodeon will ask kids to unplug their games and gadgets on Earth Day (April 22) to symbolize a commitment to helping the environment.

The channel's green initiative will begin at 9 p.m., when most Nick viewers are already in bed.

It will end at 9:01 p.m.

That's right, one minute.

TVs, by the way, are exempt.

And people say that Americans aren't willing to sacrifice. *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Send e-mail to gensleh@phillynews.com