Dead billionaire’s ‘Cinderella’ love child battles ‘evil stepsisters’ for $100M
The love child of late billionaire and New York Magazine owner Bruce Wasserstein is suing his five other children for more than $100 million, dramatically portraying herself in court as “Cinderella” while claiming her half-siblings are the “evil stepsisters.”
Attorneys for Sky, the 15-year-old daughter of Wasserstein, the powerful ex-chairman of Lazard, and his mistress Erin McCarthy, say his five other children have repeatedly refused to give her a fair share of his estimated $2.3 billion estate.
Page Six can also reveal that Wasserstein’s mistress had another child, Rose, 5, who was born nine years after his death as a result of the former couple creating a number of embryos.
The court papers specifically allege that Sky’s half-sister Pamela Wasserstein — the 45-year-old president of Vox Media, which owns New York Magazine — is a “bully” who has allegedly connived to stop her from getting her full inheritance.
Papers filed in New York Surrogate’s Court on Tuesday state, “This campaign against Sky has been pursued with particular zeal by Pam who serves as Sky’s trustee despite a plethora of conflicts and self-dealing.
“Pam, by her bullying, ostracizing and neglecting Sky … makes even the behavior of Cinderella’s evil stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia seem mild. But there is no Prince Charming in the Wasserstein family coming to save Sky.”
In addition to six kids, Wasserstein, who died in 2009 at age 61, left behind a widow, two ex-wives, a mistress, and four lavish residences: a London townhouse, a Paris apartment, a 17-acre Santa Barbara estate, and a sprawling, 27.5-acre oceanfront East Hampton property known as Cranberry Dune, valued at over $120 million.
“Contrary to Bruce’s desires and intentions, the Sibling Trustees have rejected Sky’s attempts to build a relationship with them. They also have gone so far as to try to erase her from the Wasserstein family tree,” the papers state, alleging there is a “continuing conspiracy, through psychological and economic bullying along with their other siblings and faithless fiduciaries, to deprive Sky of her rightful share of her father’s multi-billion dollar estate and to ostracize her from the Wasserstein family.”
Sky’s trustees Pamela, Ben and Scoop Wasserstein — children from Bruce’s marriage to his second wife, Christine Parrott — plus two others serve as “the gatekeepers to her multi-hundred million dollar inheritance, but refuse to meet with or speak to, or have any relationship with her,” it is alleged.
The new paperwork — filed as a response to an accounting petition filed by the trustees of Wasserstein’s estate — adds that Wasserstein left $1 million to Sky in his will, but alleges she was never given that money.
Lawyers for Sky are asking for a settlement to be determined at trial for more than $100 million as well as further damages for her “ostracism,” plus the appointment of an independent trustee.
This is the latest salvo in the ongoing legal battle between Sky and the Wasserstein siblings.
In 2019, lawyers for Sky claimed her five half-siblings were trying to cheat her on the value of his Hamptons mansion as they divvy up his $2.3 billion estate.
McCarthy, who gave birth to Sky in 2008 while Wasserstein was still married to his third wife, Claude, claimed his other kids agreed to give Sky her share of the value of his properties in cash if she and the girl agreed to never visit the homes.
Pam Wasserstein insisted in a 2012 court affidavit that sharing Cranberry Dune with McCarthy and Sky “would be a source of unimaginable stress and trauma for my brothers and me … We would rather sell these homes than live under those circumstances.”
Sky’s trust — still controlled by her siblings — was paid $6,566,700 “to close the gap” between what she received and what her siblings took away. She also gets $30,000 a month in child support.
Sky is already sitting on an estimated $170 million inheritance. She lives with her mom in a Central Park West pad.
The Post previously reported the Wasserstein kids — adults Pamela, Ben and Scoop, and teenagers Jack and Dash — blame McCarthy for splitting up their family and accuse her of breaking into Cranberry Dune in the middle of the night when Sky was an infant, screaming “Your dad’s a bastard” at his youngest sons.
McCarthy denied breaking in.
Sky’s attorney, power lawyer William D. Zabel, told us in a statement, “No amount of money can undo the psychological damage to a young woman who since age 3 (she is now 14) has been the target of an insidious, relentless conspiracy to ostracize her from her family.”
The child’s co-attorney Taleah Jennings added, “We are seeking damages for Sky in an amount no less than $100 million, which is a small fraction of what her father left for his children to share equally.”
A spokesperson for the executors of the estate and the trustees of his family trust said, “Mr. Wasserstein’s estate and the family trusts were divided into portions of equal value for each of his six heirs, and a judge signed off on the framework of the division of assets years ago. The executors and trustees have at all times acted in accordance with their fiduciary duties. We regret that this matter continues to be litigated and will vigorously defend against these meritless objections.”
