The woman who fought to build Jay Leno's reputation is now fighting for her own.
Helen Gorman Kushnick, Leno's former manager, has filed a $30 million libel suit against Bill Carter, the author of "The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno and the Network Battle for the Night."Kushnick denies several assertions in Carter's book, including that she canceled acts that also were booked on Arsenio Hall's show, planted news stories in an attempt to unseat "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson, and threatened to cancel an appearance by NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw unless NBC took the 1992 Republican convention off the air.
Carter, a TV writer for The New York Times, did not return a call to his office Wednesday.
Kushnick was the aggressive force behind Leno's rise from small-time comic to "Tonight Show" host.
She was fired as the show's executive producer in 1992, less than four months after Leno took over.