Mariah Carey has been caught up in a legal battle with her former assistant for over a year now and, as is the case with everything in the renowned singer’s life, it has been over-the-top and a tad surreal. It was first reported in January of last year that Carey would be suing her ex-employee, Lianna Shakhnazarian, for attempting to blackmail her with “intimate videos” that Shakhnazarian had secretly recorded while working for her. The ex-assistant supposedly tried to leverage this potentially-damning footage to squeeze $8 million out of Mariah’s pockets. 

Of course, Shakhnazarian is claiming Carey’s accusations are false and she countersued for wrongful termination. Carey is struggling to prove that her ex-assistant conspired this extortion plot because she apparently disposed of all the evidence. The previous development in the case was that Carey requested permission to make copies of the contents on Shakhnazarian’s phone in order to make sure she doesn’t “withhold or destroy” any relevant material. 

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According to The Blast, Shakhnazarian has made a request of her own. For some reason, she is seeking access to Carey’s medical records. Portions of the available legal documents have been redacted, so its unclear how this information pertains to the lawsuit. However, Carey’s motion for the judge to protect her medical records reads, “the subpoena seeks Mariah’s private medical records and testimony regarding Mariah’s medical records, both of which are irrelevant to the subject matter of this action or the determination of any motion made in this action. Rather, the subpoena is nothing more than an improper attempt to embarrass and harass Mariah. As a public figure, Mariah is no stranger to having her private life mercilessly dissected by tabloids. In the past, tabloids have printed articles from “sources close” to Mariah who have made various sensationalist allegations about her health. Even if the disclosure of medical records were made subject to a protective order, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to prevent further unauthorized “leaks” to the tabloids.”

Despite this plea, the judge has decided to give the green light to the subpoena served on one of her doctors. When we find out how these medical records influenced the case, we will let you know. 

Mariah Carey has been in and out of court over the past year in her legal battle against her former assistant. Mariah filed a lawsuit against her former assistant on claims that she was being blackmailed, essentially. She made accusations that Lianna “Azarian” Shakhnazarian had visual recordings of Carey “engaging in intimate acts.” Following Carey’s decision to let go of Azariana, Carey claimed that Lianna threatened to leak the videos if Carey didn’t cough up $8M.

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According to Page Six, Carey’s attorney, Casey Laffey, said in court papers that “Shakhnazarian has tried to avoid liability by intentionally destroying at least three categories of relevant evidence.” It’s still unclear what Laffey meant since a lot of the document was redacted. Laffey added that Azarian “has irrevocably frustrated Carey’s ability to determine whether Shakhnazarian transmitted the recordings to other third-parties,” the court documents say.

Now that the evidence no longer exists, according to Laffey, Carey demands permission to make copies of the contents on Azarian’s phone in order to make sure she doesn’t “withhold or destroy.” Carey also stated that she can’t really fight Azarian’s “sole” defense that she had permission to take the videos of Carey.

“Ms. Shakhnazarian did nothing wrong. It is sad that Ms. Carey and her team are more concerned about PR than the truth coming out. I wish them well,” Shakhnazarian’s lawyer, Tobin Lanzetta, said.