There are two narratives unfolding about Camille Grammer in federal court in Dallas.
As a reality TV star once featured on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Ms. Grammer is being portrayed before a jury as either one of two different people.
Option A: She’s the victim of a violent attack by her ex, Dallas resident Dimitri Charalambopoulos, and further victimized by the current defamation suit he filed against her.
Option B: She’s a malicious woman who brings the drama of reality TV to her off-camera life, a woman whose celebrity persona thrives by spreading false allegations that her ex-boyfriend abused and physically assaulted her.
Both narratives are currently unfolding before a jury in U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer’s courtroom, where a trial began Tuesday. It is Judge Scholer’s second jury trial since she took the bench last year.
The legal battle stems from an October 2013 incident in which Grammer alleges Charalambopoulos assaulted her in a Houston hotel room after they got into an argument over a late night text.
The couple was staying at the Hotel ZaZa while Grammer recovered from hysterectomy surgery she underwent at the MD Anderson Cancer Center to treat endometrial cancer.
Grammer obtained a restraining order against Charalambopoulos after the alleged incident, though a grand jury declined to indict Charalambopoulos on felony assault charges.
Charalambopoulos, a trained lawyer, denied the attack ever happened, claiming Grammer fabricated the whole incident. He sued her for defamation in 2014, claiming that she took a false story to the tabloids and spread it on her widely-followed social media, damaging his reputation, future employment opportunities and credibility with his community, clients and business associates.
“This is a case about real versus reality TV,” Provost Umphrey partner Guy Fisher, who represents Charalambopoulos, told jurors during opening statements. “It’s a trial about the damage done when a woman attacks an innocent man.”
Grammer’s lawyer, Richard Rohan, countered that Charalambopoulous was anything but innocent. He held up a plastic bag before the jurors that was filled with what he described as Grammer’s blonde hair. He said Charalambopoulous ripped the hair out of her head when he twisted it and “used it like a handle” to slam her head against the bed. He then displayed Grammer’s old bent iPhone and claimed Charalambopoulous “cupped in his hand when he smashed it on the table.”
Rohan said Charalambopoulous also squeezed Grammer’s nose and pushed it back toward her head, and when the attack was over unplugged all the phones in the room and fled the scene, according to a Hotel ZaZa employee who will testify in the trial.
“Instead of owning up, he sued for defamation,” said Rohan, a partner at Carrington Coleman in Dallas. “He tried to rewrite history. He admits this didn’t ruin his reputation. He got married, had a new child and [still] lives in Dallas.”
But Fisher told jurors Grammer staged the hotel room after Charalambopoulous left to make it look like a struggle had occurred – taking hair out of her hairbrush, unplugging phones and breaking her own cell phone.
“What he didn’t know was his life was about to change,” Fisher said, “because you don’t just walk out on Camille Grammer.”
The problem with Grammer’s side of the story, Fisher said, is her injuries, behavior and testimony after the alleged attack don’t match up.
Grammer kicks off testimony
Charalambopoulous’ lawyers wasted no time after openings testing Grammer’s story. Guy Fisher’s brother and law partner, Joe Fisher, called her up as the witness. He grilled for an hour and 15 minutes about various topics – including what she said to police after the incident.
To counter Grammer’s claim that she did not seek publicity after the alleged attack, Fisher pulled up a February 2014 text message thread between Grammer and her best friend at the time, Elizabeth Harandi, in which Harandi entertained the possibility of Bravo putting Grammer back on the Real Housewives show.
“I thought they would with the whole cancer thing… but the Dimitri thing is just so juicy,” Harandi’s text said.
“I agree,” Grammer replied. “Cancer and a beating for [sic] a cave man makes for a great rating.”
“It was a joke,” Grammer said to Fisher. “I wasn’t seriously feeling that way.”
Though no longer a main cast member on Real Housewives, Grammer still makes appearances on the show, including the latest episode from the current season that aired Tuesday evening. In it, she defended Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in light of the sexual assault allegations brought against him by Dr. Christine Blassey Ford, which raised the heat at the dinner party Grammer was attending and caused her to make headlines in various publications today.
Fisher displayed the text message thread that sparked the argument between Grammer and Charalambopoulous. It was from a childhood friend who lives in Houston and, with her connections, helped Grammer get into MD Anderson.
Grammer testified she awoke at 1:51 a.m. to the buzz of a text from the woman on Charalambopoulous’ phone, so she pulled it out of his pocket and read it.
The thread showed the two had been trying to get in touch that day – that the friend couldn’t talk around 8:30 p.m. because she was on a date.
The 1:51 text from her said: “Sorry. Call me when you have some time tomorrow.”
Fisher questioned Grammer in a manner implying he was incredulous that that text message would set her off and accuse Charalambopoulous of cheating.
Grammer replied she barely read the message but wondered immediately “why a woman or anyone would be texting him” at 1:51 a.m.
“I don’t think that’s out of the norm to ask,” she said. “I don’t get texted at 2 in the morning.”
Also: “I never said, ‘are you cheating?'” Grammer corrected Fisher. “That never came out of my mouth.”
Grammer’s testimony continued Wednesday. The Lawbook was in the courtroom and will have the more details.