Christina Ambers, Hand model Christina Ambers sues building for $10M over alleged mistreatment since she wed doorman
A famous foot model is suing her stuffy upper East Side building because workers there made her life miserable after she fell head over heels for a doorman.
Christina Ambers, once dubbed the “Heidi Klum of foot models,” says a romance with her porter-turned-husband, Angel Rotger, turned her into a pariah among workers at 340 E. 74th St., who made her hail taxis and retrieve packages on her own.
“I hope that people can understand how awful it is to come home and to then be treated with hostility in a building where I have paid a lot of money to live,” Ambers told the Daily News. “Nobody should have to live this way.”
The brown-haired beauty, whose hands and feet have starred in ad campaigns for Maybelline, Harry Winston and the TV show “Rescue Me,” married Rotger in July after he swept her off her feet in 2007 while he was working at the building.
“The people in this building need to come into the 21st century,” Ambers said. “I fell in love with Angel because he is a sweet, caring man – how dare they look down on us!”
The “Upstairs, Downstairs” relationship cost Rotger his job, the suit says, and exposed the couple to torrents of abuse – including a painful August encounter between Rotger’s private parts and the handbag of the building superintendent’s wife.
The $10 million suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, accuses the super’s wife – identified by building residents as Kristin Purcell – of boozily slugging Rotger in the groin.
“He made his way to the hospital and was diagnosed with a contusion,” Ambers said. “Can you imagine how hard she must have hit him to have caused a contusion?”
Ambers, who bought her 700-square-foot apartment in 2003, previously tangled with building management over problems with her floor that she said were caused by a leak. The feud grew even uglier once she paired off with Rotger.
“It seems that Christina has breached some type of social order that existed in that building,” said Joshua Price, a lawyer for the newlyweds. “There’s no question that they’ve been made to feel like outcasts.”
A lawyer for the building said the co-op board firmly backs building super Martin Purcell and his wife.
“The board will vigorously defend the allegations made by Ms. Ambers,” Joe Colbert said. “The claims have no merit.”
Martin Purcell declined to comment, and his wife could not be reached.
Residents in the building, also known as the Avon House, trashed Ambers as a potty-mouthed neighbor from hell who parades around in skimpy outfits.
“She’s the biggest problem in the building,” griped one woman, who declined to give her name.
New York magazine called Ambers – who wears size 8-1/2 shoes – the “Heidi Klum” of the foot and hand set during a career in which she also has modeled for Anne Klein, Oil of Olay and Heineken.
was first posted on November 20, 2009 at 7:14 pm.
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