‘What happened to my money’: Question that sparked pop star Vanessa Amorosi’s bitter war with mum

Aussie pop star Vanessa Amorosi’s long-running family dispute has flared into court as the singer-songwriter fights her mother over the ownership of two properties.

Nine years ago Aussie pop star Vanessa Amorosi received a shock, which threw her life into disarray and shattered her relationship with her family.

For three years she had been living in California and pursuing her music career when, towards the end of 2014, she was told she could no longer afford her home.

Despite earning “millions of dollars” annually in the 2000s, the family trusts which collected her earnings and controlled her assets couldn't meet the mortgage repayments, she was told.

Details of the award-winning artist’s personal troubles have been aired in Victoria’s Supreme Court, where she has been locked in a bitter property battle with her mother, Joyleen Robinson.

“I knew I was going to lose the property. There was a lot of turmoil going on and I couldn’t get the answers of why,” she told the court in October.

“I asked her (Mrs Robinson) to show me where the money had gone … (She said) I spent it all.”

Ms Amorosi fought back tears as she described how her relationship with her mother soured in 2014 when she began to question why she was losing her home. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

The 42-year-old performer is suing Mrs Robinson for sole ownership of two properties bought using her music earnings but controlled by a trust that lists both women as joint owners.

Mrs Robinson has countersued, claiming one of the homes, an 8ha Narre Warren property that she has lived in for the past 21 years, was bought for her.

The case rests on the existence, or not, of a “kitchen agreement” said to have occurred in 2001.

Giving evidence Mrs Robinson was adamant the two women agreed the home was for her and if Ms Amorosi ever needed money, she would repay the original $650,000 purchase price.

She said there was only ever a verbal agreement to buy the property, described as her “dream home”, because “it was a mother and daughter that trusted each other”.

Evidence tendered to the court shows she sold her previous home the same year Ms Amorosi’s money troubles began to surface, after which $710,000 was used to pay down the California loan.

Ms Amorosi claims the conversation and agreement was fabricated in about 2015 after the pair had a falling out.

Ms Robinson could face eviction and a court order to sell the home. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

What happened behind the scenes of her meteoric rise from a schoolgirl performing at a Russian restaurant in Melbourne to an internationally-acclaimed pop star has fallen under the microscope of Justice Steven Moore who will have to decide the outcome of the long-running feud.

Ms Amorosi was catapulted into stardom at 18 with her debut 1999 single ‘Have a Look’ which was backed up the following year with ‘Absolutely Everybody’ — the song that scored her invitation to close out the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The following year, the court was told, she earnt about $860,000 on the back of “constant touring” around Australia and Europe.

As Ms Amorosi’s fame rose, she said her mother quickly took control over her finances, claiming a series of trusts and companies were needed to protect her.

“Boyfriends were enemies, husband was the enemy … she was to be the only one there with the right intentions, and I believed it,“ Ms Amorosi told the court through tears.

One of these trusts — named Vanjoy, an amalgamation of both their first names — was used to buy the $650,000 Narre Warren home in 2001 and the whole family moved in.

The singer was supported in court by friends, including Mark Holden, who discovered her as a teenager singing in a Russian restaurant in 1999. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Amorosi lived there with her mother, stepfather and siblings from 2001 before she bought another home in Officer in 2005 and later moved to the US in 2011.

Over the following decade the companies purchased a number of properties, both commercial and residential, as “nest eggs” for the singer — later used as collateral for a $1.2 million loan used to purchase a house in Bell Canyon, California, in 2012.

But money problems began to surface two years later and the house was sold.

Ms Amorosi claimed when she questioned her mother about where all her money had gone, a “war” broke out within her family as her siblings took their mother’s side.

“It turned into a bit of a standoff and there was a lot of confusion,” she said.

She said she now believed Mrs Robinson had exploited her wealth and been “very generous” with her money.

Mrs Robinson, on the other hand, said she always acted in her daughter’s interest and was following the advice of an accountant Ms Amorosi’s manager had recommended.

The award-winning artist has returned with new albums and touring dates in recent years. Picture: Supplied.

She told the court she stopped managing her daughters finances in 2011 when she moved to the United States and had sold several properties at the request of her daughter’s American business manager.

“Tony (the manager) told me I had to sell everything and then I spoke to Vanessa a few days later and she confirmed it,” she said.

“My daughter and I were best friends, there were never any worries about money … I loved her and still love her – that’s the heartbreaking part.”

Ms Robinson began crying as she told the court her daughter cut her out of her life around 2015 amid accusations of financial mismanagement.

I thought it (the Narre Warren property) was mine, I put a lot of money into that house over the years,” she said.

“Why would I do that if I didn’t think it was mine?”

By 2017, Ms Amorosi had engaged forensic accountants to examine the financial records of the trusts, before launching the legal action in the Supreme Court in early 2021.

In court documents she accused Ms Robinson of “unconscionable conduct” by seizing control of her finances when she was a teenager.

Justice Moore is expected to hand down his judgement in early 2024.