Marlon Brando's Housekeeper Settles For Far Less Than She Was Asking
Angela Borlaza, Marlon Brando's chief assistant and homemaker during his final years, has settled her lawsuit claiming she was locked out of his room in the days before his death so that producer Mike Medavoy and others could coerce a signature from the legend giving them full rights to develop his Tahitian estate into a resort. She also claimed she was wrongly evicted from the San Fernando Valley home she says was a gift from her former boss. Reports the LAT:
Borlaza had sought $627,000 — the market value of the Winnetka house — and $2 million in punitive damages.
According to papers filed Dec. 22 in the Brando estate probate case, Borlaza agreed through mediation to settle all claims for $125,000. [...]
Borlaza, who worked for Brando for about 10 years, said Brando had bought her a home as repayment for her services. She also said that Brando had taught her a code he used, so she could distinguish his signature from forgeries, and that the signature on the will was not his true signature.
Despite begrudgingly accepting the low six-figure payoff sum, Borlaza is apparently sticking to her version of events. According to court transcripts, not only did the signature on the revised will not bear the authenticating happy face eyes and smiling mouths inside the "o"s, but the former domestic knew in her heart of hearts that the man she catered to for years would never leave this world having signed a document reading, "I, Marlon Brando, hereby authorize the transfer of my estate to Mike Medavoy and his associates, so that they may develop my Polynesian real estate holdings into Tahiti's premiere tourist theme attraction, Jor-El World, featuring the Waterslide of Solitude™."
