Stevie Wonder’s former fiancée is fighting his attempt to remove her from the Los Angeles home where she says she has lived for almost 40 years.
Carmen Efferson, 68, told Our News Outlet that the legendary singer, now 76, purchased the $1.8 million Hollywood Hills mansion in 1988 while they were engaged.
‘At first, I did not even want the house, but he kept insisting,’ Efferson said.
‘I have never been materialistic, and I never asked him for a house. But we reached a verbal agreement that this would be my home.’
In a January 3, 1989, National Enquirer story, Efferson announced that she was expecting Wonder’s child and that the couple planned to marry that March.
She later miscarried, but said she continued living in the Hollywood Hills property with her two-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, with Wonder’s permission.
The relationship deteriorated after reports emerged that Wonder had allegedly also proposed to Lencola Sullivan, a former Miss Arkansas who was living on the East Coast.
The alleged double engagement became tabloid news, with both women photographed with Wonder at different times while wearing striking diamond rings. Wonder did not marry either woman and declined to comment on the claims.
Efferson said she lived quietly in the house for 38 years before learning last week that Wonder was seeking to evict her.
The lawsuit filed by the ‘Superstition’ singer states that the mansion remains in his name. It claims he allowed Efferson to live there without paying rent for years, until she allegedly refused to let insurance inspectors enter the property.
Singer Stevie Wonder has sued his former fiancée, Carmen Efferson, alleging in court documents that she refused to let inspectors into the Hollywood Hills property he still owns
Efferson says she and Wonder had a verbal agreement allowing her to live rent-free in the Oak Glen Drive home for nearly four decades
Carmen Efferson says she lived peacefully in the two-story property for decades before Wonder and his attorneys filed a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week
Efferson told Our News Outlet: ‘He is going to portray me as the liar, and there is no reasoning with this fool. I am so tired of someone like him constantly getting away with this s**t.’
‘It hurts that he is doing this to a Black woman while presenting himself as someone who gives back to the community.’
‘People do not want to say it, but I know he is a gaslighter and a manipulator.’
A source close to Wonder declined to address the allegations involving Sullivan, saying the singer ‘is appropriately focused on the here and now and protecting everyone, and not talking about something that may or may not have happened 40 years ago.’
‘This is not a personal matter for Stevie; it is about safety. He simply wants to make sure the property, and the entire block, remain safe.’
Efferson said she worked as Wonder’s choreographer and artistic director during his ‘In Square Circle Tour’ in 1986, and that the two soon began a romantic relationship.
‘I was only 27 when we got together,’ Efferson said. ‘The first three years were stable, but the final two were extremely difficult.’
Efferson traveled internationally with Wonder as his choreographer. She is pictured sharing a private moment with the singer in a Detroit hotel room in June 1986
Stevie Wonder, fourth from left, appears with Quincy Jones, Dionne Warwick, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie at the 28th Grammy Awards in February 1986
Efferson said the property was originally purchased in the name of Wonder’s former manager, Rod McGrew.
She maintains that she and Wonder verbally agreed that she would have the right to live in the home.
‘He would leave me messages saying, “I am putting the deed in Rod’s name for now, and once I pay the gift tax, I will put it in your name.”‘
She also rejected the description of her as someone who had simply been ‘living rent-free,’ saying she had spent ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ on upkeep and repairs.
When Our News Outlet visited the property this week, it showed visible signs of deterioration, including a large hole in one side with exposed stucco.
Sections of the exterior wood paneling on the three-bedroom, four-bathroom house appeared to be deteriorating. The dark beige home stood in sharp contrast to the well-maintained properties around it.
Efferson said the 7,200-square-foot lot and its two-story house had required several repairs after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which significantly damaged the hillside property.
The Oak Glen Drive property requires substantial work, including repairs to an exposed wall
The wooden garage door and trim around the windows also show signs of damage. Efferson says she has paid thousands of dollars for repairs because Wonder allegedly has not spoken with her in seven years
She said she had also paid for flood damage caused by storms over the years. Efferson, who earns money as a painter, sculptor and writer, said she has struggled to cover the cost of maintaining the property.
According to Efferson, Wonder never responded when she contacted him about damage to the house or property.
She claimed that every four or five years, Wonder would contact her to discuss selling the house and giving her a share of the proceeds, but that plan never came to fruition.
‘He kept changing his mind about it until around 2019. That was when everything began to shift,’ she said.
Efferson said that in December 2019, around the time Wonder began experiencing health issues, members of his team and his lawyers started requesting access to the property.
‘When his health began to decline, they started coming here and knocking on the door,’ she said.
‘They made it sound as though he was on his deathbed and needed to put his estate in order.’
‘I believe they wanted to see whether the house could be sold if something happened to him. I had lived here peacefully for years, and that was when the situation changed.’
Efferson alleges that since 2019, Wonder’s attorneys have pressured her through letters and unannounced visits.
Carmen Efferson, right, during Wonder’s 1986 tour, when she worked as his choreographer and artistic director
Efferson said she traveled around the world with Wonder in the late 1980s. She is pictured with a chimpanzee during a visit to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Stevie Wonder never married Carmen Efferson or Lencola Sullivan, but he has been married three times. He is pictured with his third and current wife, Tomeeka Robyn Bracy, at a pre-Grammys gala in February 2024
In the complaint filed on October 22, Wonder’s attorneys said Efferson’s refusal to permit an inspection could have put his insurance coverage on the property at risk.
According to the court filing, Wonder’s team notified Efferson in July that she had to leave the house by August 27. The filing says she refused to do so.
Wonder is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, as well as legal costs. His attorneys also stated that the property’s fair rental value is $275 a day.
The lawsuit included a tense series of emails exchanged between Efferson and Wonder’s legal representatives.
In one profanity-laced exchange, Efferson said she felt the attorney was speaking to her with ‘racist cold-blooded white male privilege.’ She wrote: ‘Do not make any attempt to make any kind of contact with me….’ and ended the message, ‘In other words F*** the f*** off..!!!’
According to the filing, attorney David Huff responded by pointing out that the lawyer who initially contacted Efferson was neither white nor male.
Carmen Efferson told Our News Outlet that she intends to fight to remain in the house
Efferson says she has not spoken with Wonder since 2019
Efferson said she used such forceful language because she felt disrespected and believed Wonder and his legal team had ‘doxxed’ her.
Asked why she thought her former fiancé was seeking her eviction after nearly four decades at the property, the artist replied: ‘That is a good question.’
‘I am going up against “Stevie Wonder, the great humanitarian,” and he is presenting me as the liar. No one wants to say that he is the ultimate gaslighter.’
‘All he had to do was call me, but I am not backing down. He is a big, fat f***ing liar and a crybaby.’
A source close to Wonder said the dispute with Efferson was not ‘personal’ and instead concerned the safety of the property and nearby residents.
‘This is simply a homeowner trying to ensure that the property and the person living there are safe and secure, and that the home is properly insured. If, God forbid, something were to happen, that would reduce the risk to her and the neighbors,’ the source told Our News Outlet.
‘It is a straightforward matter of safety, security and responsibility.’
