'Heidi Klum of Foot Models' Sues Neighbors

Nov. 23, 2009 — -- World-famous hand and foot model Christina Ambers has filed a $10 million lawsuit against her posh Manhattan apartment building, alleging she's faced discrimination since she married the building's former doorman last July.

"These snooty Upper East Side people who live in co-ops are very upset that the gentleman who once hailed the taxi for them or announced the guest for them is now the husband of a shareholder in the building," said Ambers' lawyer, Josh Price. "They resent that he is being treated as one of them."

Dubbed the "Heidi Klum of foot models" by New York magazine, Christina Ambers has posed in ad campaigns for beauty giants, including Maybelline and Clinique. Her hands and feet have appeared in several films.

"I enjoy what I do, though it is hard work," Ambers said.

Last week Ambers filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the management and residents of Avon House, her building in a wealthy Manhattan neighborhood. Some apartments in the 12-story apartment house have sold their homes for more than $1 million.

Ambers alleges that since she married Angel Rotger, a former Avon House porter and doorman, the building's staff and residents have verbally harassed them and, in one case, physically assaulted Rotger. Her lawyer alleges the building's board is trying to push them out of the apartment Christina purchased.

Avon House residents are "discriminating against these people because she chose to marry the Hispanic doorman in an Upper East Side Building," said Price.

'Treated Very Badly'

"The other people in the building looked down on them, snickered at them, glared at them, made them feel very unwanted, very uncomfortable," Price continued.

"We have been treated very badly," said Ambers. " There has been resentment, and we have truly been shunned by everyone here."

Ambers first moved into Avon House in 2003 and said she enjoyed living there. In 2006 Angel Rotger became a doorman at the building on East 74th street.

"We met in the building and developed a friendship. That friendship developed into love," she said.

Foot Model Marries Doorman, Sues Neighbors for Discrimination

As news of the couple quickly spread around Avon House, "the building personnel were heard chattering amongst themselves about it, and the cooperative board then comes down on Angel Rotger, the new doorman," said attorney Price.

Rotger was warned, "You cannot have a relationship with her, and if you do you'll be fired," according to Price.

The couple said they continued their romance in secret, meeting at locations away from Christina's residence. Eventually, the two were spotted getting out of a taxi together a few blocks from Avon House by a building staffer. Rotger was fired soon after.

Rotger's termination from Avon House did not slow their relationship. "Angel moved in with me, and then we were married," Ambers said.

The ceremony was in July. Ambers told ABC News, "It was an intimate wedding here in Manhattan. It was a very happy day,"

Since then, Ambers said, "the acrimony has gotten worse and worse and worse."

The couple said in their suit that a few weeks ago the wife of the building's superintendant physically assaulted Rotger, shoving him in the groin with her pocketbook.

"He ended up with a contusion and was in the hospital for a short time," said Price.

Building Board Responds

The board of directors of Avon House is now fighting back against the suit filed by Ambers. On Thursday the board members resolved to terminate the couple's tenancy, the first step in evicting them from the building.

In a letter to tenants they wrote, "The Board wanted you to know that their public allegations are false, and that the cooperative will vigorously defend against them. We believe that the lawsuit and all of the media attention that they have drawn to our cooperative are an effort to thwart the termination of her tenancy and eviction from our building because of their repeated objectionable conduct."

The lawyer for Avon House, Joe Colbert, declined to comment on the case to ABC News, and has asked the board not to discuss the situation with anyone.

Foot Model Marries Doorman, Sues Neighbors for Discrimination

Ambers and her lawyer have now spoken about the suit with media outlets from around the world as she fights to keep her home with her husband in Manhattan.

Ambers said, "I have the right to have my husband live in my cooperative apartment with me. The board has no right to tell me that it does not want my husband living there."