Ramsay Street stalwart Elizabeth Grace “Libby” Kennedy, daughter of Susan and Karl Marx, is reportedly suing the producers of the soap where she lived a double life from 1994 – 2011 over allegations that she suffered sex and disability discrimination during her time on the set of Neighbours.
According to legal documents obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald, All About Soap’s ‘Wicked Weepie’ 2003 award-winner Kym Valentine is “seeking compensation for lost wages and ‘pain, hurt, suffering and humiliation’, an acknowledgment that she suffered unlawful discrimination and an apology” from production company FremantleMedia Australia, legal director Steven Rosser and former Neighbours producers Susan Bower and Neal Kingston, whom she alleges engaged in said unlawful discrimination.
In the documents, Valentine also accuses her employers of failing to provide “a working environment that was safe” and that they breached “the relationship of trust and confidence” between actor and production company.
Following a slew of health-related issues including collapsed lungs and pneumonia, Valentine took a month-long sabbatical from the show in 2008, during which time substitute doppelgänger Michaela Banas seamlessly assumed the life of Ms. Kennedy, a popular teacher at Erinsborough High. Following further hospitalisation for a blood clot and exhaustion, Valentine returned to the show briefly before taking indefinite leave and allowing her contract to lapse in 2011.
The Herald are reporting that while she never returned to Neighbours, she was last seen hosting a Ramsay Street bus tour last year and is demanding that the show rehire her after she’s done suing them.
Photo: Patrick Riviere via Getty
via SMH
