Minnie Driver ‘threw baby food jars full of paint at my home’
MINNIE Driver has been accused of harassing her neighbours – including throwing baby food jars full of black paint at their home.
The British actress, 46, is being sued over her alleged ‘unjustified and abhorrent conduct’ by Daniel Perelmutter, 74, and his 67-year-old wife Mary Lou, in a row over construction work on their home.
The Perelmutters claim that Miss Driver has carried out a campaign to force them to stop the work, including ‘verbally harassing’ them and builders at their property by screaming ‘all manner of obscenities’, driving her car at the workers and blocking them for up to eight hours at a time from entering the two properties’ shared driveway. She has also allegedly been throwing building materials on to the Perelmutters’ land, as well as hurling the baby food jars at the walls of their house.
The lawsuit is the culmination of a long feud over the building work between the Perelmutters and mother-of-one Miss Driver, who bought the house next door to them in Los Angeles in 2014.
In December last year the actress, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Good Will Hunting, got a temporary restraining order against Mr Perelmutter, claiming that he told her to ‘f*** off and die’ and jumped in front of her car as she was
‘She goes into frenzies that are scary’
driving off, forcing her to slam on the brakes. Last month police were called by anxious neighbours after Miss Driver started screaming at Mr Perelmutter when a truck delivering something to him blocked her driveway.
Mr Perelmutter, who recently had a heart transplant, said he should be recovering but instead he and his wife have suffered ‘severe emotional distress’ and sleeplessness.
Asked after his last appearance at court if he feared for his life, he said: ‘I certainly do but all the people that work in the building of our home and all the people around there are threatened by her.
‘She should be institutionalised. She needs help. She’s deranged, she goes into frenzies that are scary. She’s caused hundreds of thousands of dollars to my home in building costs and delays.’
The Perelmutters have accused Miss Driver of assault, trespass and private nuisance. They are asking Los Angeles Superior Court to remove an electronic gate the two properties share, and for unspecified damages for their alleged suffering.
The actress, who was born in Finsbury Park, north London, bought her three-bedroom LA home, which has a pool, for £1.7million. The Perelmutters have lived in the neighbourhood since 2003 and their home is worth around £1.3million. Nobody for Miss Driver was available for comment yesterday.