Spelling's Private Life Goes Public

Tori isn't the only member of the Spelling clan that's going to be notorious.

Family patriarch Aaron Spelling's dirty laundry will be aired in public now that a Los Angeles judge has denied the TV mogul's request to seal portions of a sexual-harassment case against him.

The suit, filed in January by Spelling's former nurse Charlene Richards, alleged that the geriatric producer sexually harassed her for the six months she was in his employ, both groping her and routinely asking for sexual favors.

Spelling wanted to block the public from having access to a deposition given by Richards' ex-boyfriend Paul Porter. According to court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Richards disclosed intimate details about the Spelling family to Porter, including information about the mogul's medications, his wife Candy and her friends, children Tori and Randy and security issues at their Holmby Hills estate.

Spelling's legal crew says Richards' blabbing violated a confidentiality agreement she was required to sign upon accepting her position with the Dynasty producer and therefore should be barred from being disclosed.

"The Spellings are prepared to litigate the case if it can't be resolved. Confidentiality agreements are important for celebrities. On occasion, there is an employee who decides not to comply, and that's why we have courts," attorney Robert F. Chapman told the Times.

Richards' lawyer, though, claims the attempt to seal the deposition was simply to detract attention from her client's original claims.

Virginia Kenny argued in court that the First Amendment allows for the publication of the deposition and that Chapman's attempts at sealing the documents were "a diversion by the Spellings to distract people from the real issue, which is the sexual-harassment charges."

"He is trying to seal the records so that the public doesn't know how little evidence he had in bringing his case against her," Kenny said. "It's another attempt to intimidate her."

Kenny further argued that confidentiality agreements were not meant to be used to prevent workers from seeking help should their employers break the law.

The Times was also battling for the documents to be disclosed. "We were concerned that Mr. Spelling would use a private contract to try to sanitize and seal the court record," said Susan E. Seager, a First Amendment attorney who argued on behalf of the newspaper. "We oppose their request to seal documents because private contracts cannot be used to seal public records and the judge agreed."

Richards, 56, first filed suit against Spelling, 82, earlier this year, alleging he made lewd comments to her and continually propositioned her, including requests for the nurse to "dress like a hooker" and have sex with him after he popped a Viagra.

For his part, Spelling issued a statement denying the claims, saying, "I have absolutely no recollection of engaging in any of the conduct that [Richards] alleges."

Spelling filed a preemptive lawsuit against his former employee last November, two months before Richards filed her lawsuit. In his complaint, which seeks $5 million in damages, Spelling accuses her of defamation and breach of contract for painting the TV titan as a serial sexual harasser.

His suit came after Richards' attorneys allegedly sent a letter titled "Survey on sexual harassment by Aaron Spelling" to hundreds of actresses who had worked for him, including Teri Hatcher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Highberger, who rejected the request to seal Porter's deposition, urged both sides to settle--and quick.

"This is a case that should be settled by Apr. 12," he said in court. "If anyone is rational."