The producers of a Broadway show has filed a lawsuit against actress Valerie Harper for her illness. Citing a TMZ report, Daily Mail said Matthew Lombardo has sought legal action against the 74 year-old performer for her alleged intentional failure to reveal that her inoperable cancer had returned. Lombardo claimed that since the revelation, they were forced to find a replacement to fill her role for the stage production of "Looped."
It was reported that Harper started showing signs of her illness returning when she had trouble remembering her lines during rehearsals and was suffering slurred speech then. Lombardo urged her to go to the doctor, of which Harper received a diagnosis that her cancer had returned and that she only had months to live. Because of her illness, Lombardo claimed that they have to pull Harper out and secured a last-minute replacement, costing the company $500,000. Lombardo is seeking an additional $1.5 million for Harper's negligence in telling the show producers that her lung cancer which she has been battling sine 2009 has spread to her brain.
Harper had also sued "Looped" producers earlier for the latter's alleged failure to pay out the rest of her contract. The star received a Tony award nomination in 2010 for her portrayal as legendary actress Tallulah Bankhead in the production, Daily Mail noted.
Harper was also forced to clarify a story run by magazine Closer Weekly, of which its headline had pronounced her cancer-free. She said, "I want to thank Closer Weekly for giving me a chance to clarify my story and, more importantly, to address the headline which states that I am cancer free. I am not cancer free. I had just had my yearly full-body scan to determine if this sneaky cancer had migrated to other parts of my body. Therefore, in completing that part of the story, I told the reporter with excitement that I was cancer-free, but what I meant to say was that my full body scan revealed that I was still thankfully cancer free. What all parties want to be made clear now is that while the Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis has not spread, I am still not cured. I am a cancer patient, and I continue to fight with the hope that a cure may be just around the corner."
