It's been more than a decade since Chris Rock and a shapely blond model struck up a conversation over Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. The relationship that followed was brief -- two dinner dates -- but there seems to be no end to the fallout from the liaison.
The second date led back to Rock's hotel room, which led to sex -- he has said he was separated from his wife at the time -- which led to a paternity suit, then tabloid headlines, an allegation of rape, the hiring of private investigator Anthony Pellicano, two DNA tests, a confidential settlement, testimony before a federal jury and, on Thursday, the revelation of a new civil suit.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge unsealed the suit, which was filed against Rock in August, at the request of the plaintiff, Monika Zsibrita, the model from the Four Seasons. Now 36 and a married stay-at-home mother, Zsibrita said she wanted the court papers made public so people, especially those in her native Hungary, would know her version of a story in which she is often portrayed as a gold digger.
"My side has never been out," she said outside the courtroom. "This has basically ruined my life."
The suit accuses the comedian of breach of contract and a host of other charges, and its overarching theme is that the comedian known for his caustic humor is, as Zsibrita called him in a conversation after the hearing, "a monster." She accuses him of first raping her, then siccing a criminal private investigator on her and finally raining potshots on her on Howard Stern's radio show.
Rock's publicist and the attorney representing him in the suit did not return calls seeking comment. But in his testimony at Pellicano's wiretapping trial last year, where he was perhaps the most famous if not the most important witness for the prosecution, Rock portrayed Zsibrita as a shakedown artist.
"Someone who was not pregnant with my child claimed to be pregnant with my child and requested large sums of money for this," he testified. He said he turned to Pellicano because he thought he was being scammed.
After Zsibrita's daughter was born in 1999, two DNA tests determined Rock was not the father. In September 2000, almost two years after their hotel-room encounter, Zsibrita filed a report with the Beverly Hills police accusing Rock of rape. Pellicano obtained a copy of the confidential report and shared its contents with Rock.
