Patti LaBelle Sued for Allegedly Causing Toddler to Vomit out of Fear

Patti LaBelle (AP)

NEW YORK – A New York family claims that disco diva Patti LaBelle launched into a rampage in the lobby of their Manhattan building, terrifying their toddler daughter to the point where she threw up in fear.

The “Lady Marmalade” singer’s tirade frightened 18-month-old Genevieve Monk so badly that she suffered “personality changes, sleep disorder” and “increased fear of strangers,” her family says in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.

It was Nov. 10 of last year when stagehand Kevin Monk, his kindergarten-teacher wife, Roseanna, and Genevieve were getting ready to go on a family trip.

While Kevin Monk got the car, Roseanna Monk came down to the lobby of their Riverside Boulevard building with their luggage, carrying Genevieve.

Roseanna Monk said she stopped near the door and put her daughter down for a moment.

“Someone came up behind me and said, ‘Do you know what your daughter is doing?’ I said ‘yes’ and went to pick her up,” she said.

LaBelle angrily admonished the pregnant woman.

“She said in an aggressive tone, ‘You shouldn’t have left your daughter by the door,’” Roseanna Monk said. “I told her, ‘I have no interest in what you say or think.' She became enraged and started using profanities -- the C-word and the F-word in a loud voice ... She had a bottle of water and started flicking water from the bottle on me."

She said Genevieve got hysterical. “I said to this woman, ‘Look what you’ve done to my daughter,’” the child's mother said.

LaBelle lunged at the mom -- who was still holding Genevieve -- and had to be restrained by her entourage and pulled out to a waiting car, Roseanna Monk said. The tot was crying so hard that she vomited, she added.

Later, the family sent a note asking for an apology from LaBelle but got no response.

LaBelle's lawyer and representatives did not return calls for comment.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, but the family’s lawyer, Sam Davis, said he took the case for free and that the family plans to donate any money it gets to a children’s cancer charity.

“The purpose is to hold Patti LaBelle responsible for her conduct,” Davis said. “That kind of behavior is completely unacceptable, especially when aimed at a kindergarten teacher carrying an 18-month-old child.”