Cesar Millan’s pit bull killed Queen Latifah’s dog, attacked ‘star gymnast,’ lawsuit claims
“Dog Whisperer” star Cesar Millan is accused of covering up the killing of Queen Latifah’s dog after his pit bull mauled several pooches, including hers, in a series of violent attacks, a new lawsuit reportedly claims.
The pit bull, named Junior, also attacked a former “star gymnast” whose career was ruined as a result, she said in the lawsuit obtained by TMZ. The woman, Lidia Matiss, said the dog had a history of violence but was allowed to freely roam the halls of a Los Angeles office building owned by Millan, who was also her mother’s boss.
One of the incidents cited in the complaint involved one of two dogs Latifah had brought to Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita, Calif. Junior apparently mauled one of those dogs to death, but Millan directed his staff to tell the singer and actress that the animal had been struck by a car, the lawsuit claims.
Millan’s lawyers said the famous dog trainer is not responsible for Junior’s attack on Matiss because she knew of the danger and assumed the risk of being bitten, TMZ reported Friday.
The woman said the dog repeatedly bit her legs in 2017, leaving her with serious injuries and physical and emotional pain, according to the lawsuit. She said she could no longer compete in gymnastics after the attack.
Junior died in July at the age of 15. A biography on Millan’s website describes the dog as “calm, confident, and very well-traveled.”
This is not the first time Millan has been sued over an attack by one of his dogs.
A Florida nurse said in a 2015 lawsuit that she suffered “disfiguring open wounds, deep muscle and tendon lacerations” as well as bone fractures when a pit bull trained at Millan’s dog center attacked her months earlier. In 2006, a TV producer claimed his dog was hurt after being suffocated by a choke collar and forced to run on a treadmill at the same facility.
The 52-year-old reality TV star rose to fame with the show “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan,” which aired from 2004 to 2012.
