Leslie Kuhn worked as an office manager on “The Howard Stern Show” and later as an assistant to both Howard and Beth Stern.
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Howard Stern is known for stirring trouble on the airwaves, but now he’s found himself in legal hot water.
The shock jock and his longtime wife, Beth Ostrosky Stern, are facing a new lawsuit from former assistant Leslie Kuhn, who is suing the couple on allegations of a “hostile work environment,” according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY on Monday, April 6.
Kuhn, who worked as an office manager on “The Howard Stern Show” before becoming Howard and Beth Stern’s live-in assistant, filed the complaint in the New York County Supreme Court on April 5. The Howard Stern Production Company and Stern’s production company, One Twelve Inc., are also listed as defendants in the case.
The ex-staffer also alleges that a pair of nondisclosure agreements purportedly signed by Kuhn, preventing her from disclosing personal details about the radio personality, were “fraudulently” signed.
“Kuhn fully intends to disclose details concerning the facts surrounding her employment by Stern, Beth Stern, [SiriusXM] and One Twelve and termination of that employment as necessary to address the accusations made against her and to protect her reputation and future employment prospects,” the lawsuit reads.
USA TODAY reached out to Stern’s representatives for comment.
Former Howard Stern assistant details ‘hostile’ conditions after moving into DJ’s mansion
Kuhn’s professional relationship with Howard Stern began in September 2022 when she was hired as the office manager for his long-running SiriusXM show, “The Howard Stern Show,” according to the former assistant’s lawsuit.
The following year, Kuhn was promoted by Howard Stern’s One Twelve Inc. to the radio DJ’s executive assistant, a role that would require her to move into Howard and Beth Stern’s “Oceanview” residence, a mansion located in Southampton, New York, the complaint said.
In addition to her work for Stern, Kuhn claims in the lawsuit that Beth Stern requested her assistance in “managing the staff of the mansion, setting staffing schedules, completing staff payroll, and managing general household operations, including Beth Stern’s extensive at-home feline rescue and fostering operations.”
Despite receiving notice of a raise for 2026 in December, Kuhn’s complaint said she was fired by One Twelve Inc. around February. Kuhn said One Twelve’s Vice President of Finance, Mark D. Garten, terminated her due to “alleged misconduct.”
“Kuhn contends that her termination was the result of, among other things, a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment, immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on-site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices,” the lawsuit added.
Howard Stern’s ex-assistant pushes back against confidentiality agreements
Following her firing, Kuhn alleged that she received a “separation agreement” from Pryor Cashman LLP, a New York-based law firm that represented One Twelve Inc. in Kuhn’s termination.
The terms of the agreement, described by Kuhn’s attorney as “one-sided and non-mutual,” contained several “confidentiality” and “nondisclosure” requirements that would prevent Kuhn from disclosing “personal information, household information, charitable information and business information” about Howard and Beth Stern, the couple’s friends and relatives, SiriusXM, One Twelve Inc., The Howard Stern Production Company and Beth Stern’s philanthropy.
Kuhn was then allegedly presented with a 2022 confidentiality agreement that she purportedly signed with Stern before her employment began, which also stipulated the nondisclosure of Stern’s personal information. Because of this, Pryor Cashman informed Kuhn that her agreement to the new separation agreement “would have no additional or different legal effect,” the lawsuit states.
The former assistant refused to sign the separation agreement, according to Kuhn’s complaint, “on the grounds that the confidentiality agreement was” invalid from the beginning and therefore “unenforceable.”
Kuhn’s attorney states multiple times in the lawsuit that she never signed a “nondisclosure/confidentiality agreement … as a term of her employment” with Stern or his companies.
The complaint noted that an additional nondisclosure agreement, purportedly signed by Kuhn around last May, was presented to Kuhn, providing additional terms of confidentiality that extended to the “personal affairs of individuals in any way associated with the company,” such as “daily activities and personal habits (e.g. food preferences, sleeping habits, hobbies).”
“The confidentiality agreement and nondisclosure agreement are particularly onerous, however, because they not only silence Kuhn from speaking candidly about her employment and the termination of her employment,” the lawsuit states, “but they also permit the defendants to speak freely about Kuhn with impunity.”
Kuhn is requesting that the court determine whether the alleged confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements are legally valid or enforceable by Stern and his associates.
