Australian pop star Vanessa Amorosi has spoken publicly for the first time about the bitter court battle that shattered her relationship with her mother, Joyleen Robinson.
The 44-year-old singer-songwriter appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, telling Tracey Grimshaw the fallout had been “the elephant in the room” for years.
“Like people want to know about it, like ‘Why would you do this to your family? Why would you do this to your mum?’ Like, trust me, I don’t want to do that- that’s not a good time,” Amorosi said.
She admitted she never thought her mother believed she would have “the guts or the courage to let this go public” but said she had no choice.
“I think at numerous points, I was very, very close to it. And it took a lot of buckling down to go, no, I’m not walking away. ‘Cause if I walk away, I walk away with a debt and no assets to pay the debt. That’s where I was left.”
The Melbourne-born pop star launched legal action in March 2021, suing her mother for sole ownership of a Narre Warren property she purchased in 2001 for $650,000.
The home had been bought via a trust in both of their names.
Over the years, more assets were held in trusts managed by Robinson and Amorosi’s stepfather, but the pop star claimed cracks appeared after she bought her dream home in Los Angeles in 2009.
Despite earning “around 10 million” from her music career, Amorosi was told she couldn’t afford the mortgage.
Months later, she claims her mother sold an old house without her knowledge to cover the debt.
“I thought it was my own money, like I had assets- we were meant to be selling my assets,” Amorosi alleged.Â
“And they went and sold the first house and shoved it into the loan, I never asked.”
Robinson argued there had been a “kitchen table pact” made between the pair for her to keep the semi-rural property, but the court rejected the claim.
In August last year, the court ruled the Narre Warren property belonged to Amorosi, though she was ordered to repay her mother the proceeds of Robinson’s own house sale, plus interest.
As a result of the decision, Robinson was ordered to leave the family home.
She left in June and later said that while she was devastated to be evicted, she would always “love her daughter more”.
Robinson said she has not spoken to Amorosi in more than a decade and expressed her wish to meet her grandson, Killian, whom Vanessa shares with her husband, Rod Busby.Â
However, Amorosi said the toll of the court case went far beyond the financial cost.
For the first time, she revealed the family trauma she had carried for years: a childhood marked by domestic violence at the hands of her biological father, Frank Amorosi.
“I think like when you have this happen behind closed doors, you cling,” she said.
The eldest of three daughters, Amorosi said she avoids talking about the abuse because “it isn’t just about her” stressing both she and her mother were victims.
She did not speak on behalf of her younger sisters, Natasha and Mellissa.
Although her father left when she was young, Amorosi said the trauma lingered, leaving her unable to fully trust others as her career took off.
She clung to her mother even more, which made questioning her about money in later years feel like the “ultimate betrayal”.
“I knew once I started getting into heavily asking the questions, that this would create a sh*tstorm among the family behind closed doors,” she admitted.
Earlier this year, Robinson claimed on A Current Affair that her daughter had changed after a brain aneurysm and medication that followed, suggesting it caused her to detach from the family.
Amorosi described her mother’s interview as “infuriating” saying it “took away” her credibility.
“You know how people say ‘A mother’s love is unconditional’? Well, mine comes with conditions,” she said.