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Doorman Who Married Foot Model Alleges Coop Racism
By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 21, 2009
Modified Nov 21, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 21, 2009
Modified Nov 21, 2009
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Yesterday we heard one-half of the love story of the year, when a famed hand and foot model who married her doorman filed a $10 million lawsuit against an Upper East Side coop board that she claims is trying to force the couple from their apartment. Today, we hear from the former porter himself, Angel Rotger, who went from opening the doors in the 74th Street building to having them opened for him — and claims he has been mistreated by both his former colleagues and his new neighbors in the process.
After losing his job as a doorman when he started dating Christina Ambers, the so-called "Heidi Klum of foot models," the couple married and Rotgers moved from his apartment in the Bronx to his wife's posh, 700-square foot apartment. But since he moved into the building where he used to work, Rotgers claims his former coworkers have become like "captors" who discriminate against the couple, making them feel "trapped" in their apartment, according to the Daily News. "After working amongst them, them having to work under me is a big culture shock," said the 32-year-old, who also tells the Post his neighbors are jealous and refuse to treat him fairly because of his race. "They no longer have to treat me as a Hispanic porter, telling me what to do, where to go. Now they have to treat me as an equal [and] that made them very, very upset."
Residents of the building have complained that Ambers is a "hard-drinking hottie who wears next to nothing while clicking around the building in high heels," according to the Daily News, and the building's lawyer claims the couple's suit is "without merit." But Ambers and Rotger insist that their case — and their relationship — is very serious. "It's not like I stumbled into good fortune or something like that, I found somebody who understands me and wants to be with me, and I love her," he said. "I didn't feel like I fell in love with her feet. I fell in love with her heart."
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