Bianca Censori Testifies About Stripped-Down Beach Mansion at Kanye West Trial

The enigmatic performance artist took the stand after construction worker Tony Saxon sued her husband Malibu Mansion Trial Bianca Censori Testifies About Stripped-Down Beach Mansion at Kanye West Trial The enigmatic performance artist took the stand after construction worker Tony Saxon sued her husband By Nancy Dillon Nancy Dillon Contact Nancy Dillon on X Contact Nancy Dillon by Email Bianca Censori Testifies About Stripped-Down Beach Mansion at Kanye West Trial Kanye West Malibu Mansion Trial: Tony Saxon Denies ‘A Most Heinous Fraud’ Kanye West Blasted Handyman After Kim Kardashian, Bianca Censori Flub, Jurors Hear View all posts by Nancy Dillon March 5, 2026 Kanye West and Bianca Censori attend the 67th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic Bianca Censori appeared in a Los Angeles courthouse Thursday to face questions about the Malibu mansion designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando that her husband, Kanye West, purchased for $57 million in 2021 and subsequently gutted to build what his lawyer called an “off-the-grid” shelter. Censori, 31, walked into the courtroom wearing a black satin skirt and black cardigan buttoned all the way up, with her hair pulled back in a tight bun. She smiled at the jury and answered most questions with one-word replies. Asked if her husband, now known as Ye, told her he wanted to build an “off-the-grid bunker,” she pushed back. “I believe he used that language to refer to aesthetics,” she said. “This was all concepts. The idea that it changed is not necessarily correct. When he would describe ideas, it was holistically his concept. It was always going to be a residence. That was never changing.” The morning testimony challenged claims from the plaintiff, Tony Saxon, and another witness, handyman Jeromy Holding, that Ye’s plans for the property were constantly shifting. They previously told jurors Ye wanted all plumbing, wiring, toilets, and access to all city utilities removed. Holding said Ye’s rotating plans for the home included having it serve as an extension of his private school, a bomb shelter, a monastery, a recording studio, and a playground for his kids filled with slides and ramps. An architect by training, Censori, 31, has been an enigmatic and largely silent fixture in West’s orbit for years, making her statements mostly through provocative performance art that often incorporates public nudity. She was called to testify at the civil trial after Saxon, a 35-year-old musician, vintage record dealer, and handyman, filed legal claims in 2023 over his seven-week tenure working on the house in late 2021. In his lawsuit and courtroom testimony, Saxon has alleged he worked as a project manager and round-the-clock security guard at the contemporary concrete house until he was severely injured and then fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns. He alleges Ye neglected to provide workers’ compensation insurance and is now on the hook for not only unpaid wages but damages related to his medical expenses, loss of earnings, and emotional distress. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century Saxon previously told jurors Censori was working as an architectural consultant on the project in late 2021 while West was still married to Kim Kardashian. Saxon said he regularly texted with Censori during that time, asking her advice on dealing with Ye and discussing designs related to slides installed over concrete steps. He said Bianca was present when Ye allegedly tore into him for not ripping out all the home’s electrical wiring fast enough and for pushing back when Ye ordered him to use fuel-powered generators indoors despite the risk of carbon-monoxide poisoning. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Censori broke her silence about the Ando house as well as her marriage. “The thing about destruction is it gives life to something else,” she said of the mansion. “So, when I would enter that house that was quote, unquote ‘destroyed,’ bats were living inside of it, and the sea salt had taken over the steel that was in the house and was rusting.” She described her public persona and barely-there looks, including a fully transparent dress worn at the 2025 Grammys, as living art of her own invention. “I wouldn’t be doing something I didn’t want to do,” she told the magazine, adding that she and her husband work on her outfits together. “It was like a collaboration. It was never ‘I was being told to do something.’ If you were married to Gianni Versace, wouldn’t he give you a dress or something?” Censori acknowledged to Vanity Fair that there were moments, during some of Ye’s controversies, when she considered leaving him. She did not specify when. Less than a week after the Grammys, Ye posted on