Jennifer Chiba met Elliott Smith around 1999, she claimed they were engaged in a romantic relationship in the lawsuit) butthat does not appear to be the case as Elliott was with other girlfriends at that time.
Still they knew each other then and chiba’s name is on the list of acknowledgments on his Figure 8 CD. Some people described her as a stalker, always coming to Elliott’s concerts . Someone who was working in a bar Elliott used to frequent, said that she had seen Elliott refuse to go out with Chiba and left her crying before he went on his 2000 tour.
Around 2002, Elliott was with Valerie Deerin, and at that time he was taking a lot of drugs and was recording with David McConnell in his Malibu studio. At one point, there was a fight between Valerie and Jennifer and Valerie got fed up, left and went back to her country (Scotland). In an interview Chiba has admitted to have struggled through a suicidal depression and to have “a history of drug use.” People who knew her when she was playing bass in the band the Warlocks have blamed her for introducing Elliott to some drugs. Others have said she helped him through his recovery. From what I have heard, Valerie didn’t want Chiba around because she was supposedly the source for the drugs Elliott was taking
At the end of 2002, Elliott entered the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a treatment for his drug addiction. At this point of his life, Elliott had burnt a lot of bridges, he was pretty isolated and had lost contact with a lot of his old friends, because many had disproved his drug use. During or just after his treatment, Elliott moved into Chiba’s apartment in late 2002 and it is reported that, during that time, she helped him. They were together for less than a year when he died.
Their relationship has been described by Sean Organ the owner of Org Records, the label that planned to release the Happy Ending single (her band), as “furiously difficult, similar to the infamous and ultimately disastrous liaison between Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen”. Their fights were not uncommon according to some witnesses in bars and some neighbors. This is what a neighbor wrote “she and Elliott have had this emotional, dramatic table turning, door slamming, screaming “I hate you” type of relationship. typical for a manic and a depressed individual right? the wife has witnessed it herself in a bar one night.”
Nevertheless she said he had allegedly proposed to her a few days before he died, she occasionally said they were thinking of starting a family, then somehow, somewhere, this got changed into ‘starting a garden’ (Robin said this).
However, I have also heard she said to someone at Elliott’s funerals he was thinking about leaving her.