Mary J. Blige Rips Misa Hylton Lawsuit As ‘Frivolous,’ Says She Just Wants a Settlement Payout

Mary J. Blige is firing back at a lawsuit filed by her former stylist Misa Hylton, accusing the longtime friend and her lawyers of “fabricating accusations” to try to win a settlement payout.

The stylist sued Blige earlier this year, claiming the R&B legend had “sabotaged” Hylton’s management relationship with the rapper Vado. At the time, Hylton’s lawyer said the dispute was “very unfortunate” because the two were “probably closer than blood family.”

In her first response to the lawsuit on Monday, lawyers for Blige didn’t hold back – arguing that Hylton’s allegations were not only “baseless” but also entirely fictional.

“Plaintiffs and their counsel appear to enjoy fabricating accusations that will be discussed in the press and on social media for the purposes of harassing defendants and trying to coerce a favorable settlement,” writes Blige, represented by veteran music litigator Lisa F. Moore.

Blige is not only asking the judge to dismiss the “frivolous” case, but also seeking sanctions – monetary legal penalties — against Hylton and her lawyer, Nicholas Ramcharitar, for even filing it in the first place.

“Plaintiffs and their counsel had significant time to investigate these issues, not only before filing but also after defendants’ counsel sent a lengthy letter identifying with granular specificity why each of their claims is baseless,” Blige’s lawyers write. “Yet, plaintiffs and their counsel chose not to withdraw the Complaint and instead appear to be doubling down.”

Hylton is a longtime hip-hop stylist known for dressing Blige, Lil Kim, Missy Elliott, Aaliyah and many other stars in the 1990s and 2000s – including Kim’s legendary breast-exposed purple jumpsuit at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. When Hylton was honored in 2019 as someone who “helped shape the landscape of urban fashion,” Blige was in attendance.

But in April, Hylton filed a lawsuit accusing her former client of a wide range of wrongdoing. The case claims that Blige exerted pressure on Vado (Teyon Winfree), who was signed to the star’s Beautiful Life Records, to fire Hylton as his manager. The lawsuit, which Vado co-filed alongside Hylton, claims Blige is refusing to release an already-finished album or allow him to tour until he ditches Hylton.

“Defendants are intentionally ‘drying out’ plaintiff Winfree – exercising provisions in the [record contract] to intentionally withhold his music from the market and bar him from performing live and touring – in order to compel him to terminate his the talent contract with [Hylton and her company].”

But in her first response on Monday, Blige’s lawyers say the case is so flawed that Hylton and her lawyer must be punished for bringing it. They say the alleged contract between Hylton’s firm and Vado is void because her company doesn’t even legally exist; they also say that it was Vado himself who failed to meet the requirements of his record deal with Beautiful Life.

The new response also reveals a scathing letter that Blige’s attorneys sent to Hylton and Vado’s lawyer shortly after the case was first filed in May. In it, they said the lawsuit was “riddled” with false statement, demanded that it be withdrawn, and threatened that they’d seek sanctions if it wasn’t.

“It is obvious that the complaint was filed by you and plaintiffs for the sole purpose of harassing and causing malicious injury to [Beautiful Life] and Ms. Blige based on Hylton’s personal animus towards Ms. Blige,” they wrote in the letter, before later ending it ominously: “Your next step in handling this matter shall govern ours.”

The letter also includes more details on the dispute, including a screencap in which Vado himself purportedly suggested that he might fire Hylton on his own initiative. “Between me and u I might be firing Misa,” the alleged text reads.

The letter was attached to Monday’s filing as support for Blige’s demand for sanctions against Hylton and her lawyer. The star’s attorneys say it shows that the plaintiffs were aware of the flaws in their case but chose to continue pursuing it, forcing Blige to “expend time and resources making this motion to dismiss their patently frivolous claims.”

The filing did not specify an amount of sanctions that Blige is seeking. An attorney for Hylton did not immediately return a request for comment.