Howard Stern’s legal battle with former assistant takes shocking turn

Howard Stern won a legal battle against his former assistant after she accused him and his wife, Beth Stern, of creating a hostile work environment.

A judge ruled against Leslie Kuhn’s allegations that the radio host’s production company, One Twelve, had forged nondisclosure agreements with her name during her employment as an executive assistant up until February 2026, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.

Kuhn claimed that her email was hacked in May 2025, but the court obtained an email from Kuhn’s account that read, “Signed NDA attached,” along with her electronic signature.

The forging allegation was referred to by the judge as “a bald assertion.”

A rep for the Sterns wasn’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

In her April lawsuit, Kuhn originally asked the court to make the 2025 NDA, along with a separate 2022 NDA, unenforceable because it prevented her from speaking about her experience working with the couple.

Stern, 72, had previously agreed not to enforce Kuhn’s 2022 NDA.

Kuhn’s employment with Stern began in September 2022, when she was an office manager for his Sirius XM show, “The Howard Stern Show.”

She was promoted to be Stern’s executive assistant in January 2024, before she was allegedly asked to manage the family’s mansion in Southampton, New York, that May.

Per Kuhn, she was allegedly told she would assist Beth with “managing the staff of the mansion, setting staffing schedules, completing staff payroll and managing general household operations.”

Additionally, Kuhn’s role included “extensive at-home feline rescue and fostering operations.” Beth is an animal activist and told Page Six in 2016 that she was fostering 17 cats.

In December 2025, Kuhn allegedly received a letter from Howard’s company stating that her annual salary would be raised to $265,000 and she would receive an $80,000 bonus in 2026. However, she was fired from her position in February.

According to the lawsuit, Kuhn blamed her firing on “a hostile work environment” and “immense pressures on the household created by irresponsible and untenable animal rescue and fostering operations occurring on-site, and massively disorganized and questionable business operations and accounting practices.”

Also in April, Howard filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, with his attorney telling “Entertainment Weekly,” “We are not going to play this out in public.”

“The Sterns are entitled to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by employees who enter their home and their private life,” the lawyer said. “They have filed a motion to address the lawsuit and the conduct of Ms. Kuhn and her lawyer.”

In court documents, Howard also referred to the legal challenge as “a thinly veiled attempted shakedown,” alleging that Kuhn “hatched a plan to extract a staggering ‘hush-money’ payment.”