The heir to cosmetics giant Estée Lauder resolved a lawsuit with his ex-mistress over a $7 million, 6,000-square-foot property in Bel Air after she reportedly violated a gag order’multiple times’ over their lovechild.
Chairman of the beauty conglomerate William Lauder, 62, has ended his court struggle with New York socialite Taylor Stein, with whom he allegedly attempted to evict her and their teenage lovechild.
Lauder, whose grandparents founded Estée Lauder Companies in 1946, settled the lawsuit with his ex-lover on August 9 – after she was apparently coerced into signing a confidentiality agreement to conceal the paternity of her daughter.
Stein, 55, claimed in August 2018 that Lauder had stopped making payments on the five-bedroom Los Angeles home, which he had committed to do while she resided there with their teenage daughter and Lauder’s brother.
She filed a lawsuit against the millionaire businessman, alleging that he was seeking to evict the family from their Bel Air house.
The chairman of the cosmetics company responded with his own complaint, stating that he was excused from making the $7 million mansion’s annual payments since she had violated their 2007 secrecy agreement.
The legal dispute between billionaire cosmetics heir William Lauder (left) and erstwhile partner Taylor Stein has been resolved (right)
Stein has once more accused Lauder of violating their court-ordered agreement to financially support her.
Stein resides in a 6,000-square-foot, $7 million estate in Bel Air, Los Angeles, with Lauder’s lovechild. It is unknown whether they will remain in the house when the lawsuit is resolved.
According to reports, he stipulated that Stein would get a $1 million annual payment if she did not reveal that her daughter was in fact his.
The 2007 agreement also said that the mistress would stay at least 100 yards away from any Lauder family member in Aspen, Palm Beach, and New York.
In 2020, however, their teenage lovechild allegedly revealed the family’s dirty laundry on social media by discussing her parents’ divorce. According to insiders, this also violated the secrecy agreement.
According to the New York Post, billionaire Lauder and his former mistress agreed to conceal key records in the now-settled lawsuit to protect sensitive information about their child.
The details of the lawsuit have not been published, and it is unknown if Stein, who is still listed as the owner of the $7 million Bel Air estate, would be required to vacate the property.
William Lauder with his divorced ex-wife Karen in 2010. In 2000, he met his mistress while he and his partner were still together.
In November 2019 in New York City, William Lauder is shown with his billionaire philanthropist father Leonard A Lauder at the Lincoln Center Corporate Fashion Gala.
Taylor Stein (second right) and Patrick McMullan (left), Lara Shriftman (second left), and Dean Winters attend the 2008 LEVIEV Party for ‘GLAMOUR GIRLS’ at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles (right)
In 2000, the couple met at Lauder’s estate in Aspen, while he was still married to Karen.
The following year, Lauder and Stein apparently began an affair. Lauder advised her to have an abortion when she became pregnant in 2005 because he was in the midst of negotiating a settlement agreement with his wife, whom he divorced in 2009.
Stein, the daughter of New York City nightclub entrepreneur Howard Stein, became pregnant again in 2006 and gave birth to a daughter the following spring.
Lauder allegedly sent Stein and the newborn to Aspen in an effort to conceal the birth from the “gossip press.”
Eight years have passed since Stein and Lauder got in a yelling confrontation on a Los Angeles street that culminated in her hitting him in the face.
In the end, Stein pled guilty to a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge and completed 19 days of community service.