Updated: 2019/01/16 4:00PM

Mariah Carey is suing her former personal assistant, Lianna Azarian, claiming that Azarian has been blackmailing her for months, saying that she secretly recorded her doing “embarrassing things” and threatening to release the tapes unless Carey pays up.

But Carey is taking the power back. She claims that Azarian was hired in March 2015 and immediately began using Carey’s credit cards for personal items and using Carey’s name to get freebies and discounts from designers and stores.

At the same time the assistant was allegedly secretly  filming Carey’s “personal activities” that are reportedly damaging to her personal and professional reputation. Though the lawsuit does not disclose what is in the videos, some are described as intimate in nature. Azarian then showed those videos to friends and told them that, should she ever be fired, she’d release the videos.

The real blackmail began in November 2017 when Azarian was fired and demanded $8 million from Carey, saying that if she didn’t give her the money, she’d release the videos and other damaging information about the star.

Carey has repeatedly demanded that Azarian hand over what she has, but it has been no use. So now the singer will take her to court instead, suing for unspecified damages that could amount to up to $3 million.