Bianca Censori has appeared in a Los Angeles courthouse to face questions about her husband’s Malibu mansion.
Kanye West’s former employee Tony Saxon is seeking $1 million (£740,000) in unpaid wages amid claims the Grammy-winner subjected him to unsafe and hazardous working conditions, disability discrimination, unpaid wages and reimbursements and wrongful retaliatory termination.
West purchased the house for $57 million (£42.7 million) in 2021 and subsequently gutted it to build what his lawyer called an “off-the-grid” shelter.
Censori pushed back on that turn of phrase.
“I believe he used that language to refer to aesthetics,” she said. “This was all concepts. The idea that it changed is not necessarily correct. It was always going to be a residence. That was never changing.”
In other testimony, Censori confirmed she has power of attorney over her husband. “I can sign things on his behalf,” she told the jury.
Handyman Jeromy Holding earlier testified that West’s plans for the property were constantly shifting and that he wanted all plumbing, wiring, toilets and access to all city utilities removed.
Holding claimed West’s rotating plans for the home included having it serve as a private school, a bomb shelter, a monastery, a recording studio, and a playground for his kids filled with slides and ramps.
West’s lawyers have argued Saxon was paid $240,000 (£180,000) for less than two months work and is now trying to defraud West with claims he was an employee, not an independent contractor.
Saxon previously told jurors Censori was working as an architectural consultant on the project in late 2021 while West was still married to Kim Kardashian.
West and Censori got married one month after his divorce from Kardashian was finalised.
