Bianca Censori appeared in a Los Angeles court on Thursday to answer questions about the Malibu estate – the home designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando that her husband Kanye West bought for $57 million in 2021 and then gutted to make one of his own Lawyer to build so-called “off-the-grid” shelter.
Censori, 31, entered the courtroom wearing a black satin skirt and a black cardigan buttoned to the top, her hair tied tightly back. She smiled at the jury and answered most of the questions in monosyllables. When asked if her husband – now known as Ye – had told her he wanted to build an “off-the-grid bunker,” she demurred.
“I think he used that phrase to describe an aesthetic,” she said. “It was all concept work. The idea that it has changed is not necessarily true. When he described ideas, that was his holistic concept. It was always intended to be a residential building. That has never changed.”
Conflicting statements about construction plans
The morning’s testimony contradicted accounts by plaintiff Tony Saxon and another witness, cell phone man Jeromy Holding, that Ye’s plans for the property were constantly changing. Both had previously told the jury that Ye wanted to remove all pipes, cables, toilets and the connection to all city supply networks. Holding said Ye’s changing plans for the house included using it as an extension of his private school, a nuclear shelter, a monastery, a recording studio and a playground for his children with slides and ramps.
Censori, an architect by profession, has been an enigmatic and largely silent figure in West’s environment for years – she expresses herself primarily through provocative performance art, which often includes public nudity. She was called as a witness in the civil case after Saxon, a 35-year-old musician, vintage record dealer and handyman, filed suit in 2023 – over his seven weeks of work at the house in late 2021.
In his lawsuit and in his court testimony, Saxon has alleged that he worked as a project manager and around-the-clock security guard on the contemporary concrete home until he was seriously injured and then fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns. He claims Ye failed to obtain workers’ compensation insurance and is now liable not only for back wages, but also for damages related to his medical expenses, lost wages and emotional distress.
Censori as a consultant on the project
Saxon had previously told the jury that Censori worked on the project as an architectural consultant at the end of 2021 while West was still married to Kim Kardashian. Saxon said he chatted with Censori regularly during that time, asking her advice on how to deal with Ye and discussing designs for slides to be installed over concrete steps. He said Bianca was there when Ye allegedly lashed out at him for not ripping out the home’s electrical wiring quickly enough and for refusing to run gasoline-powered generators indoors, despite the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
When asked if she had ever met two other designers Saxon hired for the project, Censori mentioned seeing them once on a Zoom call, possibly in connection with another project. “My husband was very interested in this idea of a closed city structure,” she explained. “Anyone who worked on anything architectural would have been involved.”
In another statement, Censori confirmed that she has power of attorney for her husband. “I can sign things on his behalf,” she told the jury.
Censori breaks her silence
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Censori had broken her silence about the Ando house and her marriage. “The beauty of destruction is that it gives life to something else,” she said of the property. “When I entered this house that was supposedly ‘ruined,’ there were bats living in it and the sea salt had corroded the steel in the house and caused it to rust.”
She described her public persona and show-stopping looks — including a completely sheer dress at the 2025 Grammys — as living art of her own creation. “I wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want to do,” she told the magazine, adding that she and her husband design their outfits together. “It was like a collaboration. It was never like anyone told me what to do. If you were married to Gianni Versace, wouldn’t he give you a dress too or something?”
Censori admitted to Vanity Fair that there were moments – during some of Ye’s controversies – when she considered leaving him. She left it open exactly when. Less than a week after the Grammys, Ye posted on Two days later, he ran a Super Bowl commercial for Yeezy.com offering shirts with swastikas for sale.
Inpatient treatment and yes to Ye
Censori told the magazine that she sought inpatient treatment to work on herself, while Ye went to rehab and started taking medication. “All I can do is always just be there and help,” she said. “This year has been like doing CPR for months. I have the love and empathy for him to be able to do that, and I understand the world doesn’t have that.”
Holding, the other handyman, testified that he was almost fired in his first week on the job when he accidentally confused Kardashian with Censori. “I said, ‘Oh, I thought you were Bianca,'” Holding recalled. He said the situation led to an argument between Kardashian and Ye, after which Kardashian left the house with their children. Ye then called him upstairs to confront him.
“One of the most famous women in the world, and you call her by another woman’s name? What do you have to say?” Ye reportedly asked in a stern tone, which Holding mimicked on the witness stand. “You did this on purpose.”
Yes lawyers attack Saxon’s lawsuit
Holding said his face burned with embarrassment. He offered to leave and never come back. “Nahhh,” Ye finally told him, according to the statement. Holding continued to work, sometimes exchanging direct messages with Ye, he said. A year later, Ye and Censori married – a month after Ye’s divorce from Kardashian became final.
Ye’s lawyers have argued that Saxon was paid $240,000 for less than two months of work and is now trying to defraud Ye by claiming he was an employee and not an independent contractor. Ye is scheduled to testify before the case is handed over to the 12-member jury, which only needs the consent of nine members to reach a verdict.
