Heiress a prisoner in her own home: suit
Christophe de Menil, the 88-yearold heiress to the Schlumberger oil fortune, is a prisoner of her only daughter, Taya Thurman, a new lawsuit charges. Alina Morini, who says she was best friends with de Menil and lived in the heiress’ E. 81st St. townhouse for six years, is suing Thurman for $5 million for having her arrested last March and held in custody for more than 30 hours. The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Morini claims Taya, the half sister of actress Uma Thurman, was estranged from her mother for 30 years, but has now imprisoned Christophe.
“This is the strongest relationship in my life,” said Morini. “I’m in pain living without Christophe.”
Morini’s lawyer Robert Hantman told me, “Just as Britney Spears was improperly controlled by her father, this is a classic case of a mother being taken advantage of by her daughter.”
The lawsuit includes an email from Nico Iliev, a photographer and good friend of Christophe, saying, “No one is allowed to visit Christophe, nor is she allowed to step outside the house.”
Hantman said, “Justice will prevail and my client will be reunited with her friend in the home they shared for many years.”
In response to the lawsuit, Taya’s lawyer Sheila Tendy told me: “These reprehensible allegations are absolutely false. Alina Morini was arrested for conning her way into Christophe de Menil’s apartment. We believe this frivolous lawsuit is a ploy intended to influence other legal proceedings.”
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Gayfryd Steinberg — one of the socialites who ruled the Upper East Side in the ’80s — has left town.
The widow of corporate raider Saul Steinberg, now married to author Michael Shnayerson, is auctioning off the antiques from the E. 73rd St. townhouse she sold in July for $11.6 million.
“She moved to Palm Beach,” said one source. “She went down to Palm Beach during COVID and loved it.”
Gayfryd (photo) also has a house in Sag Harbor, L.I.
Stair, the auctionhouse of Colin Stair, calls Gayfryd’s collection “the pinnacle of taste and outstanding provenance.”
Highlights going under the gavel on Oct. 20 include a rare Directoire brass and ormolu-mounted mahogany and ebonized slat-front standing desk, and a Regency carved oak armchair in the manner of Thomas Hope.
Books for sale include four volumes of George William Sheldon’s “Artistic Houses,” published in 1883.
There are old masters, including a Lambert van Noort drawing titled “The Annunciation” and Bernardino India’s “Venus Holding an Apple With Cupid.”
As impressive as the collection is, it’s trifling compared to the auction held after Gayfryd and Saul Steinberg sold off their art-filled apartment at 740 Park Ave. to Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman.
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Armie Hammer, the embattled star of films including “On the Basis of Sex,” “Call Me By Your Name’ and “The Social Network,” is now “starring” in an art show by Julia Morrison, who traded pervy messages with the movie star but never met him in person.
“Thank God not,” Morrison told me. “He was doing this to so many girls.”
The 35-year-old actor has been at the center of multiple sexual misconduct claims, including an alleged 2017 rape, which he denies.
The show was put up by Institut, the first art-world focused NFT (nonfungible token) platform, created by a gallery, Unit London.
Two of Morrison’s works sold, including one that looks like a ransom note to Hammer, saying, “Welcome to place yr bid. Otherwise see you all in hell.”
Morrison said, “I have not heard from him at all, but I have other ideas. It’s not over.”
The works include messages Hammer (photo r.) — “I’m basically Caligula” — sent her, including, “You don’t think or worry about anything except being a good little pet. My own personal little slave.”
Hammer also showed a cannibalistic side, writing “Dibs on the flute muscles and ribs for smoking.”
“There’s nothing wrong with sexting,” Morrison told journalist Anthony Haden-Guest. “When we were all in quarantine, everyone I knew was sexting.” Then she found out that Hammer seems to not have been just fantasizing.
Hammer’s lawyer congratulated me on this column and said he had no comment.
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“Heart of Champions” — starring Michael Shannon as a college rowing coach — was filmed near Baton Rouge, La., and it’s screening Thursday at the Park Avenue Screening Room.
Director Michael Mailer told me, “It’s ‘Hoosiers’ on the water.” His executive producers were Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who rowed at Harvard.
Shannon (above) plays a Vietnam vet with a very talented but selfish team that hasn’t won in decades.
Rowers include Alexander Ludwig of “Vikings” and Charles Melton of “Riverdale.”
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Dr. Ramon Tallaj — who worked with Eva Longoria and Mariano Rivera to deliver COVID shots to people of color — is being honored by Marc Anthony and his Maestro Cares Foundation. Tallaj, founder of SOMOS Community Care, gets the Hero Award on Dec. 7 ... The late artist Christo, who did the legendary Gates installation in Central Park, is the subject of a solo show at Isabelle Bscher’s Galerie Gmurzynska ... Jean Shafiroff looking sparkly at the Carnegie Hall concert of Serbian opera diva Marija Jelic.