A former executive assistant to the Sterns alleges “immense pressures” coming from a “massively disorganized” operation.

Howard Stern and wife Beth sued, former assistant claims they created a hostile work environment and ‘questionable business operations’

A former executive assistant to the Sterns alleges "immense pressures" coming from a "massively disorganized" operation.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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April 6, 2026 7:18 p.m. ET

Howard Stern and Beth Stern at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland in 2018. Credit:

Scott Legato/FilmMagic

- Howard Stern and his wife, Beth Stern, are being sued by a former executive assistant.

- In the complaint reviewed by EW, former employee Leslie Kuhn alleges a hostile work environment and "questionable business operations" pertaining to Beth's animal rescue operation.

- Kuhn is asking the court to declare void or unenforceable a confidentiality agreement and a non-disclosure agreement she claims were forced on her at the time of her termination in February 2026.

Howard Stern and his wife, Beth Stern, are being sued by a former executive assistant, alleging a "hostile work environment" and "questionable business operations."

In the complaint filed on Sunday in the Supreme Court of the State of New York and reviewed by **, plaintiff Leslie Kuhn is identified as a former executive assistant for the Sterns. Kuhn was hired as the office manager for SiriusXM's *The Howard Stern Show *in 2022, promoted to executive assistant in January 2024, and moved to the Sterns' residence in Southampton, N.Y. that May "at the request of Stern and his wife."

The problems Kuhn alleges with her employment apparently began there. But the crux of her complaint are the twin burdens of a confidentiality agreement and non-disclosure agreement that she claims were only forced on her at the time of her "manufactured" termination in February 2026. The complaint terms those agreements "fraudulent and unenforceable," and from them Kuhn seeks declaratory relief.

Howard Stern at SiriusXM HQ in 2024.

Cindy Ord/Getty

Once Kuhn began working primarily from the Sterns' 20,000 square foot Hamptons mansion, the complaint claims she was told that Beth needed help not only "managing the staff of the mansion, setting staffing schedules, completing staff payroll, and managing general household operations," but assisting in the daily operations of Beth's "extensive at-home feline rescue and fostering operations."

Beth's Furry Friends, a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2015, works to "foster and rehabilitate abandoned felines to be adopted and welcomed into new and safe forever homes." Since founding the organization, which has opened a feline adoption center at the North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y., Beth has become a spokesperson for NSALA, and written several books on the subject.

Less than two years after her promotion, and relocation into the center of Stern headquarters, Kuhn was terminated. Though she was allegedly terminated "for cause," according to the complaint, Kuhn "contends that her termination was the result of, among other things, a hostile work environment and enablement of that hostile work environment, 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."

* *has reached to representatives for Howard Stern, Beth's Furry Friends, SiriusXM, and an attorney for Kuhn for comment.

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Indeed, the complaint claims that the reasons for Kuhn's termination "were manufactured by the Defendants in general and Beth Stern in particular."

Kuhn is not seeking damages from the Sterns or reinstatement to her old post as their executive assistant. Instead, she seeks freedom from the confidentiality agreement and NDA allegedly forced on her during termination negotiations.

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The complaint contends that both agreements only protect the Sterns and not Kuhn, and denies the "alleged misconduct" that resulted in Kuhn's termination, which Kuhn contends "would be detrimental to one's reputation" and even "have a chilling effect on Kuhn's future employment prospects." Kuhn both denies the reasoning given for that termination, declares the agreements "fraudulent and unenforceable," and seeks the freedom to speak on her own behalf about the matter.

The complaint also seeks costs of the action and any other relief deemed necessary.

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