Bianca Censori appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday to answer questions about the Malibu mansion designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando that her husband, Kanye West, bought for $57 million in 2021 and subsequently destroyed to build what his lawyer called an “off-grid” retreat.
Censori, 31, entered the courtroom wearing a long black satin skirt and a black cardigan sweater buttoned to the top. She smiled at the jury and answered most questions with one-word answers. When asked if her husband, now known as Ye, told her he wanted to build an “off-grid bunker,” she responded.
«I think he used that language to refer to aesthetics,» he said. «These were all concepts. The idea that he changed is not necessarily correct. When he described ideas, it was holistically his concept. It was always going to be a residency. That was never going to change.»
She said her husband would “rehash so many different ideas all the time,” in a “speculative and conceptual” way, but with common threads that spanned multiple projects. He said his overall “vision” had “ground rules.”
«He didn’t like stairs» or «glazing,» meaning glass, he explained. «The big ones didn’t have glass or stairs. They had to be ramps and slides. And he was really interested in the mesh, testing it as a barrier between the inside and the outside.»
Censori’s testimony disputed claims by the plaintiff, Tony Saxon, and another witness, handyman Jeromy Holding, that Ye’s plans for the property often defied logic and were issued as strict orders with tight deadlines. The men previously told jurors that Ye wanted all pipes, wiring, bathrooms and access to all city utilities removed. Holding said Ye’s rotating plans for the house included it serving as an extension of his private school, a bomb shelter, a monastery, a recording studio and a playground for his children filled with slides and ramps.
An architect by training, Censori, 31, has been an enigmatic and largely silent element in West’s orbit for years, making her statements primarily through provocative performance art that often incorporates public nudity. She was called to testify in the civil trial after Saxon, a 35-year-old musician, vintage record dealer and handyman, filed legal claims in 2023 over his seven-week stay working at the house in late 2021.
In his lawsuit and court testimony, Saxon alleged that he worked as a project manager and 24-hour security guard at the contemporary concrete house until he was seriously injured and then fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns. It alleges that Ye failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance and is now on the hook not only for unpaid wages but also for damages related to his medical expenses, lost income and emotional distress.
Saxon previously told jurors that 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 Censori during that time, asking for advice on how to deal with Ye and discuss designs. He claimed that Bianca was nearby when Ye allegedly criticized him for not ripping out all the electrical wiring in the house quickly enough and for refusing when Ye ordered him to use fuel-powered generators indoors despite the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Censori testified Thursday that she once asked Saxon directly if he was a licensed contractor and he allegedly told her yes. Censori said he was initially hired to remove cabinets at Ando’s house, and when he arrived on the first day, he seemed sloppy and expressed gratitude for the work because he allegedly had a bad credit score. Saxon’s lawyers asked him if he ever did any research on him, considering this description. She admitted she never checked a state website to see if she was licensed. (For his part, Saxon says he was always upfront that he was not a licensed contractor.)
When asked if he ever met two other designers Saxon brought to work, Censori mentioned seeing them once on a Zoom call, possibly related to another project. «My husband was very interested in this closed-loop city idea,» she explained. «Anyone who was working on something architectural would also be working on it.»
In another testimony, Censori confirmed that she has power over her husband. «I can sign things on your behalf,» he told the jury.
In a recent interview with vanity fairCensori broke his silence about the Ando house and his marriage. «The thing about destruction is that it gives life to something else,» he said of the mansion. «So when I walked into that house that was, quote, ‘destroyed,’ bats were living inside it, and the sea salt had taken over the steel that was in the house and it was rusting.»
She described her public persona and low-key appearance, including a completely sheer dress worn at the 2025 Grammys, as living art of her own invention. «I wouldn’t do something I didn’t want to do,» she told the magazine, adding that she and her husband work together on their sets. «It was like a collaboration. It was never ‘they were telling me to do something.'» If you were married to Gianni Versace, wouldn’t he give you a dress or something?
Censori recognized vanity fair that there were times, during some of Ye’s controversies, when she considered leaving him. He did not specify when. Less than a week after the Grammys, Ye posted on Two days later, he aired a Super Bowl commercial promoting Yeezy.com, where t-shirts emblazoned with swastikas were offered for sale.
Censori said magazine sought hospital treatment to work on herself, while Ye went to rehab and began taking medication. “All I can do is always be there and help,” he said. «This year was a lot like doing CPR for months. I have the love and empathy for him to be able to do that, and I understand that the world doesn’t do that.»
Holding, the other handyman, testified that he was almost fired 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 interaction led to an argument between Kardashian and Ye, and Kardashian left the house with the couple’s children. Holding said 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 say?» Ye allegedly asked in a stern voice, imitated on the stand by Holding. «You did it on purpose.»
Holding said his face burning with embarrassment. He offered to leave and never return. “Nahhh,” Ye finally told him, according to the testimony. Holding continued at work, sometimes exchanging direct messages with Ye, he said. A year later, Ye and Censori married a month after Ye’s divorce from Kardashian was finalized.
On Thursday, Censori testified that Ye had mentioned the incident to Kardashian and Holding. “He told me she got upset,” he told the jury.
Ye’s attorneys 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, not an independent contractor. Ye is due to testify on Friday before the case goes to the 12-member jury, which only needs the agreement of nine members to reach a verdict.
