\n<\/p>\n
Cardi B testified on Wednesday that she didn\u2019t touch a security guard who alleges the rapper cut her face with a fingernail and spat on her in an altercation outside an obstetrician\u2019s office during the hip-hop star\u2019s not-yet-public first pregnancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe couldn\u2019t get a scratch from me because I didn\u2019t touch her,\u201d Cardi said on the stand in her second day of testimony in a Los Angeles county court.<\/p>\n
Ron Rosen Janfaza, lawyer for the plaintiff, Emani Ellis, asked her if she had been angry. \u201cYes I was angry!\u201d Because I\u2019m pregnant!\u201d Cardi replied. \u201cAnd this girl\u2019s about to beat my ass!\u201d<\/p>\n
She acknowledged that the argument got very heated \u2013 repeating in court much of the swearing the two did \u2013 and that they were chest-to-chest at one point, but said the fight never became physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t touch me,\u201d Cardi said. \u201cShe was going to touch me, but she didn\u2019t get to touch me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The obstetrician\u2019s office had been closed to other patients on a Saturday for her privacy. She said Ellis, a security guard for the building, followed her to her fifth-floor appointment. Cardi said she heard Ellis say her name into a phone and appeared to be filming her. Cardi feared Ellis would out the fact that she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her: \u2018Why are you recording?\u2019\u201d Cardi testified. \u201cAnd she said: \u2018Oh, my bad.\u2019 She practically apologized.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But the argument grew increasingly heated, she said. \u201cAs we were arguing she\u2019s backing me, she\u2019s walking into me,\u201d Cardi said.<\/p>\n
Both women are 32 years old and about the same height, but Cardi said Ellis was bigger than her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is like, security-heavy,\u201d Cardi said. \u201cShe just looks a little, like she could protect the building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under friendlier questioning from one of her own attorneys, Cardi explained why she was keeping her pregnancy secret at the time, seven months after the release of her first major label single and major hit, Bodak Yellow, when she was still in her \u201cfreshman year\u201d of stardom.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Emani Ellis.<\/span> Photograph: MEGA\/GC Images<\/p>\n \u201cI was getting used to things,\u201d she said. \u201cI was just so worried about what everybody was saying and thinking. I thought I was letting a lot of people down.\u201d<\/p>\n But she said, beyond that, she treasures her privacy on all medical matters, \u201cespecially something so sacred as a pregnancy. It\u2019s yours.\u201d<\/p>\n A significant chunk of the testimony was spent on the acrylic nails with rhinestones Cardi had that week, and whether they could do the damage that\u2019s alleged. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a shape that was harming, it was coffin-shaped,\u201d she said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellis testified earlier in the trial that the incident left her humiliated and traumatized, and the scar on her face required cosmetic surgery. Ellis, who lost her job over the incident, is seeking damages that include medical expenses, compensation for emotional and physical suffering, and lost wages, along with punitive damages. She does not specify a total amount in the lawsuit but Cardi said from the stand that she is \u201csuing me for $24m\u201d.<\/p>\n Tierra Malcolm, the receptionist from the doctor\u2019s office who got between the two women and broke up the argument, gave testimony on Wednesday that mostly supported Cardi\u2019s account.<\/p>\n She said she came into the hallway after hearing a ruckus outside but saw no physical fighting. She later noticed a scratch on her own face that she assumed came from Ellis, because she had been facing her with her back to Cardi.<\/p>\n Asked to characterize the argument, Malcolm said she wasn\u2019t sure if she could swear in court. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard just about everything so far, so it\u2019s OK,\u201d Judge Ian C Fusselman said to laughs from much of the courtroom.<\/p>\n The testimony came at a small courthouse outside Los Angeles in Alhambra, where trials involving celebrities are very rare. The trial is taking the rest of the week off and is expected to resume, and conclude, next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cardi B testified on Wednesday that she didn\u2019t touch a security guard who alleges the rapper cut her face with a fingernail and spat on her in an altercation outside an obstetrician\u2019s office during the hip-hop star\u2019s not-yet-public first pregnancy. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t get a scratch from me because I didn\u2019t touch her,\u201d Cardi said on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[11055,360,10792,211,2782,1242,11054,7004],"class_list":{"0":"post-18171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-accusing","9":"tag-assault","10":"tag-cardi","11":"tag-didnt","12":"tag-guard","13":"tag-security","14":"tag-testifies","15":"tag-touch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}