Sonja Tremont-Morgan8

“I have a taste for luxury, and luxury has a taste for me.”

Sonja Morgan was born on November 25, 1963 in Albany, NY as Sonja Tremont. The flamboyant Sonja is the ex-wife of John Adams Morgan. John, 33 years her senior, is one of five children of Henry S. Morgan (a great-grandson of American Gilded Age financier J. Pierpont Morgan) and Catherine Adams (a great-great-granddaughter of John Adams, the second President of the United States). Sonja and John have a daughter together, Quincy Morgan,

Like many old-money businessmen, her ex avoids the press, while Sonja embraces her newfound reality-show fame, even as she hides her 10-year-old daughter, Quincy, from the cameras.

Prior to getting married, Sonja met John Morgan while she was working at San Pietro, a Midtown Manhattan Italian restaurant on East 54th Street, and later talked him up at a cocktail party. Originally from Albany, NY, she was a hostess at San Pietro who became well known by tycoons and bankers for her beauty and social savvy. Essentially, she wasn’t just a hostess, she was a public relations guru for her restaurant.

John Morgan and Sonja were married and moved into a townhouse east of Lexington Avenue–the wrong side of Lexington according to real estate snobs. They made a baby and made the international social scene in glitzy locales such as Connecticut–where they had a country house, Switzerland, Aspen, Malibu and the Bahamas–where their yacht was often parked. She also made besties with other high-toned and well connected ladies like Ann Dexter-Jones (Samantha Ronson‘s mother), Ivana Trump, and (Baby) Jane Holzer, the former muse of Andy Warhol.

The couple separated in 2006, around the time they were financing a movie, Fast Flash to Bang Time, with Hannibal Pictures that was supposed to star John Travolta through her company Sonja Productions. Morgan backed out at the last minute because she had just been served with divorce papers.

Morgan was ordered to pay Richard Rionda del Castro and his company, Hannibal Pictures, $7 million in damages in September 2009.

“With the confirmation by one of the highest Courts of our country, the masks are falling and there is no longer any doubt that we were defrauded and severely damaged,” Rionda del Castro said in a statement. “We are now going to collect to the fullest extent of the law.”

Her divorce was finalized in 2008.

I knew John Morgan for seven years. We married in ’98, and I was dating younger, wealthier guys that probably you would think, like, why didn’t you go for them? But he was relentless . . . and when he asked me out on a dinner date, finally, after he sent me a letter and flowers and chocolates, I said, “OK, let’s go to dinner.” After the dinner, he proposed. He really loved me. He was perfect. -Sonja

I’ve worked for everything I have. I’ll tell you, old-money families, they don’t marry you and just give it to you. This isn’t nouveau riche. This isn’t, “Oh, I made it overnight, so I’ll give you half of it.” This isn’t Hollywood money: “Oh, I made a movie for 50, so I’ll give Camille 40” . . . Old money is, like, they can’t sleep at night, freaking out, like, “How the hell did this come to me? How am I going to hang onto it? And now I got this wife. She works her ass off. She’s smart as hell. She doesn’t spend any of my money. She’s got nice legs. She can make a flower arrangement herself. She does her own makeup and hair. She feeds the dogs herself. She cleans the kitty litter and she’s going to make a good mother.” Damn straight he’s going to marry me! What would he marry: some trophy girl who’s never been to the candy store? It’s a big job. It takes nine months to redo a yacht. It took me two years to do this home to the standards. -Sonja

My mother is sad that it’s not where it should be. I should be lady of the manor, sitting in my homes that I built. To have it all taken away, it’s just so shocking. But I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me. I have my health . . . I have my strength. I’m a survivor.

According to the New York Daily News, Morgan filed for bankruptcy back in November 2010 (while RHONY Season 4 was filming), claiming to be $19.8 million in debt.

“The Real Housewives of New York City” cast member Sonja Morgan suffered another blow, losing her bid to get her former lawyers to pay her millions for alleged malpractice.

But Morgan — who describes herself as a “television personality” with an income of $26,000 a month — had also filed a malpractice claim against her original lawyers in the Hannibal case. She confidently declared in court papers that she was expecting to be awarded a payout to be used for “all or part of the Hannibal judgment.”

But on Thursday, June 16, 2011 an arbitrator denied Morgan any payout. “I don’t agree with the judgment. I’m shocked,” Morgan told us. How will she pay off her $7 million debt? “I don’t know. I’m a hard worker. I’ll survive. I’ve got to meet with my advisers.” She added a phrase not often heard on “Housewives” — “Mo’ money, more problems.”

Asked whether she might sell her $6 million Upper East Side town house, Morgan said, “I’m not thinking like that, but of course it’s scary.”
On Thursday’s “Housewives,” she said she was “heartbroken” about the bankruptcy. Her current lawyer, Kevin Nash, said: “We’ll have to re-evaluate our options. This (bankruptcy) case is continuing, and hopefully we’ll have a successful conclusion.”

The bankrupt reality vixen, who is locked in a bitter court battle with her 80-year-old ex-husband, John Adams Morgan, owes Sonja a $3 million lump-sum divorce judgment and over $300,000 in alimony, may be forced to sell off her gorgeous $6 million New York City townhouse in order to gain some cash.

He is fighting against handing over any more money to his ex because he claims he was forced to pay more than was listed in his prenup.

“Sonja is devastated, she’s considering the house gone already,” says our source. “She wants to sell it back to her ex husband, so she can make that money off it and her daughter can live there, but he’s refusing. She wants to keep it for her daughter, but it seems she’ll have to sell it and lose it altogether. She needs the money because he’s not giving her a cent more and she’s now more than $7 million in the hole. She’s in denial, it’s only just started to hit her how much trouble she’s in. She makes $275,000 a year on Housewives, which would be good for anyone else but it won’t save her.”
Morgan, who showed off her beautiful home on RHONY.

“The recent events have been very heavy because it’s public and people are looking at me under a microscope,” she continued, with tears in her eyes. “I’m heartbroken.” -Sonja

Sonjaalleges that while her ex lives on his private $19 million island, off of Stamford, Connecticut, Sonja has been banned from using, selling or visiting their co-owned properties in Colorado and France.

2010 Sonja Morgan’s Townhouse Was On Then Off The Market

SELLER: Sonja Morgan
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $7,250,000
SIZE: 4,500 square feet (approx.), 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms

Until mid-March of 2010 Sonja had her Upper East Side townhouse on the market. In fact, she had been trying to dump her 5-floor crib since April of 2008, right about the time her divorce was finalized. The townhouse was first listed with an asking price of $12,000,000. Nine months later the townhouse was taken off the market and another nine months later–this brings us to November of 2009–it was put back on the market with a new listing broker and a new and reduced asking price of $9,250,000.

Two months later Sonja hacked a million clams off the asking priced and six weeks (or so) later she cleaved another million off the price tag, bringing it down to $7,250,000. Are the children keeping up? Two weeks later–we’re in the middle of March 2010 now–the listing was marked “no longer available.”

Property records indicate the townhouse was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Morgan in 1998 for $9,100,000. Listing information shows the very narrow, limestone clad townhouse measures around 4,500 square feet and contains 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. However, according to the floor plan included with marketing materials, there are 4 bedrooms–the fifth appears to have been converted to some sort of gym.

Despite the potentially devastating money woes, Sonja isn’t sitting around idly. The fan-favorite “housewife” has already begun to implement her financial backup plan which includes producing movies and emulating Bethenny Frankel – a former Real Housewives cast member who sold her “Skinnygirl” drink line for $100 million, landing her a spot on in Forbes as one of the top 100 most powerful celebrities.

“I’ll be like Bethenny. I’ll do the deals first, then the baby, then get married. Bethenny is funny as hell. I enjoyed my time with her. I’m going to be on E! Hollywood Story for Bethenny. She’s one smart cookie, and I’m following right behind her,” Sonja revealed.

Morgan is currently working on a screenplay that she describes as “a Candace Bushnell society novel.”

Sonja’s Ex-boyfriends:

• John McEnroe
• Prince Albert
• Billy Idol
• Charlie Rose

A spokesman for the Southhampton Village Police Department stated, the 46-year-old Morgan was pulled over after running a stop sign in her BMW. Suspecting alcohol was a factor, officers administered a field sobriety test, which she failed. The Bravo reality personality was subsequently taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence.

“However, it has now become public only due to my Chapter 11 filing, and has raised a lot of questions in the media, along with incorrect assumptions and statements. Many times divorce can be difficult, especially when significant assets are co-mingled. Out of respect to my ex-husband, our families, my brand and future ventures, I ask that the media understand that during negotiations with interested parties on all sides I will not be able to discuss any details.”

“A man always has two reasons for doing anything:  a good reason and the real reason.” – John Pierpont Morgan

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