Sonja Morgan

Sonja Morgan
Morgan in 2013
Born	Sonja Tremont (1963-11-25) November 25, 1963 (age 61) Averill Park, New York, U.S.[1]
Alma mater	Fashion Institute of Technology (BA)
Occupation(s)	Television personality, fashion designer, socialite, stage actress.
Known for	The Real Housewives of New York City
Spouse	John Adams Morgan ​ ​ (m. 1998; div. 2006)​
Children	1

Sonja Morgan (née Tremont; born November 25, 1963) is an American television personality, socialite, entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is popularly known for her starring role on the Bravo reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City.

Career

Morgan studied marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology.^[2] Her fashion line, Sonja by Sonja Morgan, was launched in 2015 and is sold at the Vanessa Noel store on East 64th Street and online. Morgan's line also retailed in Century 21 stores prior to their bankruptcy filing in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3][4] In the 1980s and 1990s, Morgan worked as an interior director, event planner, and hostess for a series of high-end Manhattan restaurants.

Morgan (right) with Andrea Arden and John Festa at a charity event for Dogs for the Deaf in New York City in 2013.

In 2010, Morgan joined the cast of Bravo's hit reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City during its third season. She stayed with the show until 2021, remaining a main cast member for eleven seasons. Widely regarded as a franchise fan favorite, she was voted "Best Comedienne" in the fan-chosen Real Housewives Awards for four consecutive years, from 2015 through 2018. In 2021, celebrity video messaging platform Cameo disclosed that Morgan was among their top ten highest-earning celebrities the previous year.

In 2017, Morgan made her off-Broadway debut in the play Sex Tips for Straight Women by a Gay Man.^[3][2] In 2021, she launched a regional tour of improv shows entitled Sonja In Your City, playing sold-out shows in cities including New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington DC.^[5] She is a frequent guest on Andy Cohen's late night chat show, Watch What Happens Live and she has made guest appearances on a number of other television series, including Difficult People, Kocktails with Khloé, and Worst Cooks in America.^[6] In 2023, she co-starred in a Real Housewives spin-off series with longtime castmate Luann de Lesseps, titled Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake, which premiered on July 9, 2023.^[7] Morgan starred in the fourth season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, a spin-off featuring various women from The Real Housewives franchise, which premiered in December 2023 on the NBC streaming service Peacock.

A longtime philanthropist, Morgan has contributed to charities involving children, visual and performing arts, animal rights groups, and LGBTQ+ rights.^[2] She hosts cabaret and burlesque events, called Sonja in the City, that help raise money for charity.^[2] She received a Singular Sensation Award in 1990 at the St. Regis Hotel for her work alongside Vanessa Noel and Mira Sorvino.^[2] In July 2013, she received a New York State Senate Award for charity work.^[2][8]

Personal life

Sonja Tremont was born in Albany, NY on 25 November 1963 to Dennis Howard Tremont and Sandra Cooper (née Quell). Her grandfather and father ran a lumber company in Averill Park, NY.^[9] She is of German, English, and Luxembourgish ancestry. Her ancestor Nicholas Tremont arrived in the United States sometime before 1880. Morgan met John Adams Morgan, a member of the prominent Morgan family, in the 1990s while working as a hostess at an Italian restaurant on Madison Avenue.^[10] They were married from 1998 until 2006.^[11][12] The couple wed and spent much of their marriage residing on Caritas, a 3.5-acre private island at the tip of Wallack's Point in Stamford, Connecticut.^[13][14] They have one daughter, Quincy Morgan.^[10] Morgan's divorce left her in financial ruin. She filed for bankruptcy, paying off creditors for four years after.^[15] She sold her house in Ramatuelle for $5.7 million, and remortgaged her $3.3 million home in New York City.^[15] Morgan also paid $6.95 million to Hannibal Pictures Incorporated after an abandoned movie project.^[15] The American Home Mortgage Servicing received $600,000 from Morgan's estate and the deed to her $5.8 million home in Telluride, Colorado.^[15]

As a public figure, Morgan has told stories of the many prominent men that she encountered as a young single woman in New York City. The list includes tennis player John McEnroe, actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Richard Lewis, musician Eric Clapton, and Prince Albert of Monaco, among others.^[16]

On October 13, 2016, The Huffington Post mentioned Morgan in a report on allegations of sexual misconduct made by Lisa Boyne against U.S. President Donald Trump.^[17] Boyne said Morgan invited her to a dinner with Trump, modeling agent John Casablancas, and five or six models.^[18] Boyne alleged that Trump made the models walk across the table, looked under their skirts, and described if they were wearing underwear. Morgan confirmed The Huffington Post that a dinner took place with those participants, did not recall lewd behavior by Trump, and said: "But I have been known to dance on tables."^[17]

In September 2020, Morgan spoke publicly about her experiences with cosmetic surgery, including her facelift with New York plastic surgeon Andrew Jacono.^{[19][20][21][22]}

References

1. Columbia, David Patrick (March 29, 2017). "Working Girl in the Big City: The Life and Times of Sonja Morgan". Quest Magazine. New York: Quest Media. p. 80. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
2. "Sonja Morgan". Bravo TV Official Site. June 25, 2012.
3. Mag, Met (May 9, 2017). "Sonja Morgan".
4. Sonja, Team. "Sonja By Sonja Morgan | Shop Affordable Dresses, Tops & More!". Sonja By Sonja Morgan.
5. "DC Improv". dcimprov-com.seatengine.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
6. "Sonja Morgan". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
7. Crist, Allison (May 22, 2023). "Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan Are Back! Get a First Look at Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake". Bravo. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
8. "Charitybuzz: Meet Sonja Morgan of The Real Housewives of New York Whil... - Lot 1239204". /www.Charitybuzz.com.
9. Vultaggio, Maria (April 24, 2010). "Dennis Tremont Obituary". Legacy.com.
10. "Who Is Sonja Morgan's Ex-Husband, Millionaire John Adams Morgan?". 2paragraphs.com.
11. Vultaggio, Maria (April 23, 2020). "Sonja Morgan on Her Divorce from Ex-Husband John Adams Morgan".
12. "Sonja Morgan: A dose of positivity". New York Social Diary. 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
13. Read, Bridget (May 20, 2024). "Sonja Morgan Is Ready for Greenwich". Curbed. Vox Media. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
14. Naughton, Nora (August 3, 2016). "Stamford island home holds rich history". Stamford Advocate. Hearst Media. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
15. "Bankrupt No More, Sonja Morgan Gets to Keep NYC Home | ABI". www.abi.org.
16. "A Royal, an A-list Actor, a Music Legend: All of the Famous Men RHONY's Sonja Morgan Has Dated". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
17. Reilly, Mollie; Stein, Sam (October 13, 2016). "Trump Faces Another Accusation—This Time, He Looked Up Models' Skirts". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
18. "How 'RHONY' Sonja Morgan, Now A Trump Consultant, Figures Into The Latest Trump Scandal". The Inquisitr. October 14, 2016.
19. "RHONY's Sonja Morgan Debuts $75,000 Facelift". E! Online. 20 July 2020.
20. "RHONY 's Sonja Morgan Shows Off Her Makeup-Free Complexion in Glowy Selfie". Yahoo! Entertainment. 22 September 2020.
21. "RHONY's Sonja Morgan Shows Off Her Makeup-Free Complexion in Glowy Selfie". PEOPLE.com.
22. "'Real Housewives' star Sonja Morgan shares results of her face-lift: 'I needed a pick me up'". Fox News. Associated Press. July 21, 2020.