Flight Attendant On Oprah's Private Jet Denies Sex Allegations, Sues

By Anthonia Akitunde in News on Oct 10, 2009 7:45PM

A former flight attendant on Oprah Winfrey's private jet filed a federal lawsuit Friday, denying allegations she had a sexual encounter on the plane and seeking more than $75,000 in damages, the Tribune reports.

In the suit Corinne Gehrls, 39, alleges that flight attendant Myron Gooch and Kirby Bumpus - Winfrey's goddaughter and daughter of the talk show host's BFF, Gayle King - made up the story to get her fired. Gehrls and chief pilot Terry Pansing, 57, were fired due to "inappropriate intimate behavior" according to the report.

The alleged encounter happened when "the jet was on the ground to refuel and take on a new crew," the report said. "Winfrey, Bumpus and other passengers were asleep 'throughout the flight following their ingestion of sleeping pills,' the lawsuit claimed."

Gehrls alleges Gooch made the allegations because she and Pansing complained about his behavior, citing demands for better hotel rooms than the other staff and rescheduling his shifts "so he could fly back to Chicago to 'attend to his cats,'" the report said. According to the suit, both Gehrls and Pansing passed lie detector tests but didn't have their jobs reinstated.

The suit seeks damages from Gooch, Bumpus and Harpo, Winfrey's production company.

[Tribune]