Stevie Wonder’s ex-fiancée unleashes on ‘fool, manipulator, gaslighter’ as war over $2m Hollywood Hills mansion explodes: Alleged philandering past laid bare

Stevie Wonder’s former fiancée has hit back at his bid to evict her from the Los Angeles home she has lived in for nearly four decades.

Carmen Efferson, 68, told the Daily Mail that the legendary singer, 76, bought her the $1.8 million Hollywood Hills mansion in 1988 when the pair were engaged to be married.

‘I didn’t even want the house at first – but he kept insisting,’ Efferson said.

‘I’ve never been a materialistic person, and I never asked for a house. But we came to an agreement, a verbal one, that this would be my house.’

In a January 3, 1989 National Enquirer article, Efferson announced she was having Wonder’s baby and they would tie the knot that March.

She ended up miscarrying, but she remained at the Hollywood Hills home with her two-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, she claims, with Wonder’s blessing. 

However, things soured between the two after it was revealed that Wonder also had allegedly proposed to another woman, former Miss Arkansas Lencola Sullivan, who was living on the East Coast at the time.

Wonder’s alleged two-timing became tabloid fodder as the two women from opposite coasts were both sporting dazzling diamond rings and pictured with the star on different occasions. Wonder did not marry either woman, and declined to comment on the allegations. 

For 38 years, Efferson said she lived a quiet life, until she was notified last week that Wonder was trying to evict her from her home. 

A lawsuit filed by the ‘Superstition’ singer claims the mansion is still under his name and he allowed Efferson to stay there rent-free for years until she refused to allow insurance appraisers into the property.

Efferson told the Daily Mail: ‘He’s going to paint this like I am the one who is lying, and there is no talking to this fool. I’m so sick of someone like him always getting away with this s**t.

‘It’s painful that he is doing this to a Black woman when he wants people to think he gives back to the community. 

‘Nobody wants to say this, but I know that he is a gaslighter and a manipulator.’

A source close to Wonder declined to comment on the two-timing allegations, insisting that Stevie ‘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 issue for Stevie, it’s one of safety. He simply wants to ensure that the property, and therefore the entire block, is safe.’

Efferson was a choreographer and the artistic director for Wonder during his ‘In Square Circle Tour’ in 1986 and soon the two became romantically involved, Efferson said. 

‘I was so young, just 27, when we started together,’ Efferson claimed. ‘The first three years of that relationship was solid but the last two were very shaky.’

Efferson said the home was initially purchased under the name of Wonder’s former manager, Rod McGrew.

She claims she and Wonder made a verbal agreement that the house would be hers to live in. 

‘He would leave me messages and say, ‘I’m putting the deed in Rod’s name for now and after I pay the gift tax, I will put it under your name.”

She also disputed the claim she has been ‘living rent-free’ because she also has paid ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ for maintenance.

When the Daily Mail visited the home this week, there were obvious signs of wear and tear, including a large gaping hole on the side with exposed stucco. 

Parts of the exterior wood paneling of the three-bedroom, four-bathroom home seemed to be crumbling, the dark-beige structure standing out like a sore thumb compared to the pristine surrounding homes.

Efferson said the 7,200sq ft lot where the two-story home stands has had various repairs after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which caused significant damage to the hillside property. 

She said she also has had to pay out of pocket for flood damage during rain storms over the years. Efferson has made a living as a painter, sculptor and a writer, but said she has struggled financially to keep up with repairs.

She said Wonder allegedly has never responded when she would call about fixing damages to the property or the home. 

Efferson claimed that every four to five years, Wonder only would reach out to her to discuss whether he should sell the home and pay her a cut of the profit, but it never happened.

‘He always kept going back and forth on that, until about 2019. That’s when things started to change,’ she said.

In December 2019, around the same time Wonder began experiencing health problems, Efferson said the singer’s team and lawyers started to demand access to the home.

‘You know when his health started to go down, they came around here knocking,’ she said. 

‘They made it seem like he was on his death bed, and they needed to get his estate in order. 

‘I think they wanted to see if they could sell this house just in case, you know, anything happens. I was living here peacefully for years and that’s when things started to change.’

Efferson claims since 2019, Wonder’s attorneys allegedly have been harassing her with letters and unannounced visits to her home.

In their complaint filed on October 22, Wonder’s attorneys said Efferson’s refusal to open the home for inspection could have caused the singer to lose insurance on the property.

Wonder’s team sent a notice to Efferson in July to vacate the home by August 27 but she has refused, according to the court filing. 

Wonder is also asking for an undisclosed amount in damages and legal fees. However, court documents filed by the singer’s attorneys said the fair rental value is $275 per day.

The court filing also included a tense exchange of emails between Efferson and the singer’s attorneys.

In one profane exchange, Efferson said she felt as if she was being spoken to in a tone that reflected ‘racist cold-blooded white male privilege,’ telling the attorney: ‘Do not make any attempt to make any kind of contact with me….’ and signing off ‘In other words F*** the f*** off..!!!’

Per the filing, attorney David Huff corrected Efferson in saying that the lawyer who first contacted Efferson was not white or male. 

Efferson told the Daily Mail that she responded with strong language because she felt she was being disrespected and ‘doxxed’ by Wonder and his legal team.

When asked why she believes her former fiancé is trying to evict her now after nearly four decades living rent-free at the home, the artist replied: ‘That’s a good question.’

‘I’m going against ‘Stevie Wonder, the great humanitarian,’ and he’s painting this like I’m the liar here. No one wants to say that he is the ultimate gaslighter. 

‘All he had to do was give me a call, but now I’m not backing down. He’s a big, fat f***ing liar and a crybaby.’

A source close to Wonder said the legal battle with Efferson was not ‘personal,’ but was only about her and her neighbor’s safety. 

‘This is a very simple story of a homeowner trying to make sure that the property and the occupant of the property is safe and secure, and that the home is properly insured, so that if God forbid anything should happen, that it would minimize the possibility of anything happening and protecting both her and the neighbors,’ the source close to Wonder told the Daily Mail. 

‘It’s simply a matter of being safe, secure and responsible.’