A recording apparently of a furious Robert De Niro has emerged from a courtroom dispute with his former assistant.

The US actor's former assistant is suing him for US$12m (€10.9m) claiming he subjected her to sexist comments and harassed her.

Chase Robinson says she endured years of gender discrimination as the actor made sexually charged comments, was verbally abusive and treated her as his "office wife".

Her lawsuit comes six weeks after De Niro's company, Canal Productions, filed one against her, seeking US$6m (€5.4m) and accusing her of misappropriating money.

Ms Robinson's lawsuit claims De Niro used to tell her to scratch his back, button his shirts, fix his collars, tie his ties and wake him up when he was in bed.

At the time, she was an executive assistant and then vice president of production and finance.

The lawsuit states: "De Niro would unleash tirades against Ms Robinson - often while he was intoxicated - in which he denigrated, berated, bullied, and hurled expletives at her.

"De Niro made vulgar, inappropriate, and gendered comments to Ms Robinson. He would joke with Ms Robinson about his Viagra prescription."

According to The Guardian, his lawyer Tom Harvey has said: "The allegations made by Graham Chase Robinson against Robert De Niro are beyond absurd."

Voicemail

In a voicemail attached to the lawsuit, said to have been made to 37-year-old Ms Robinson from De Niro, he swears repeatedly, and calls her a "spoiled brat".

It says: "Chase, you are living in Spain and you're f****** upset with me cause now you tell me how nice you have it your life over there and you f****** don't answer my call?

"How dare you. you are absolutely fired you're f****** history. How dare you with all the good things you do this is b****** after Christmas f*** this how dare you f****** disrespect me how much you did.

"You want a f****** another position? You want another position. Then change and go off somewhere.

"Don't f****** get angry with me cause I'm p***** off cause I didn't get a simple thing I need more than right now here out in California when I am here for less than 24 hours you got to be f****** kidding me you spoiled brat, f*** you!

"So quit whenever you want g****** ya how can you f****** so you don't answer you're upset cause you're living in Spain you spoiled f****** brat."

In Canal's lawsuit, Ms Robinson is accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars, and converting millions of frequent flyer miles for her own personal use.

She is also accused of paying herself from the 'Raging Bull' star's petty cash account for personal and luxury items.

It also says she "loafed during working hours, binge-watching astounding hours of TV shows on Netflix".

The Canal lawsuit says the company "seeks economic damages from a disloyal employee who, despite being in a trusted position, repeatedly and methodically abused her position to misappropriate her employer's funds and property for her personal gain".

Ms Robinson said the lawsuit against her was a counter one, filed because she had left the company and told the actor's lawyer that she was considering filing one against him over gender discrimination and wage violations.

She wrote: "The lawsuit is replete with 'clickbait' allegations that falsely characterise Ms Robinson as a loafer, a thief, and a miscreant.

"Now, when her name is Googled, these allegations pop up on the screen. The results have been devastating to Ms Robinson.

"Her reputation and her career have been destroyed."