R&B legend Smokey Robinson, 85, and his wife Frances Gladney, 73, are being sued for $50 million by four housekeepers who allege sexual battery and rape.
The housekeepers claim Robinson raped them in multiple rooms in his Los Angeles area mansion. The assaults allegedly took place between 2007 and 2024. They also accused Robinson and his wife of labor violations, creating a hostile workplace, and working them for long hours with little pay.
“We believe that Mr. Robinson is a serial and sick rapist, and must be stopped,” the women’s attorney John Harris said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The four women said Robinson waited until Frances was out of the house before he cornered them in rooms without cameras and assaulted them against their will.
One of the women was allegedly raped 23 times, while another woman claims he raped her 20 times. The women said they returned to work after each assault because they needed the money.
“They all feared missing a payday and not being able to pay their rent or buy food for their families,” attorney Harris said.
Frances is accused of turning a blind eye to her husband’s alleged misconduct.
“We believe she was aware of the misconduct by her husband, Smokey Robinson, and that she used their status as well as our clients’ reliance on their living wage in order to keep them in check,” plaintiffs’ attorney Herbert Hayden said in the lawsuit.
Robinson and Gladney exchanged wedding vows in May 2002. They were good friends before they began dating. Smokey and Frances share the same birthday, February 19, although they’re 12 years apart in age.
Robinson said their friends took them out to dinner to celebrate their birthday. Afterward, they bonded over shared interests.
“Frances and I were on the phone laughing and talking about our birthday party, when I said, ‘Hey, let’s go get some coconut shrimp,'” he recalled. “‘Sure,’ she said. That was the beginning for us, and I tell her all the time, ‘You do realize that I married you because of coconut shrimp.'”
Robinson told PEOPLE that one of his songs, “I Keep Callin’ You,” was inspired by his wife.
“My thoughts on it [are] that you can put it on and be with the person that you want to be with and just kick back and enjoy each other. It’s more of the idea of love.”
Frances is an interior decorator who helped renovate their 7-bedroom, 8-bathroom mansion in Chatsworth, an affluent suburb Northwest of Los Angeles.
Frances installed a crystal and wrought-iron chandelier in the entryway, replaced marble floors with cherry wood, and designed a home theater.
After a few years, the couple listed the property in 2005.
“She’s done a great job with our homes in L.A., Las Vegas and Pittsburgh,” he wrote for Pittsburgh Quarterly.
“I love my wife and my family. And I love the fact that they support me in loving my job,” he said in Lifetime’s movie Miracle in Motor City. “When you’ve got it like that, there’s no juggling.”
