Stevie Wonder’s ex calls him a ‘gaslighter and manipulator’ amid legal battle over Hollywood Hills home

Stevie Wonder’s former fiancée Carmen Efferson has accused the legendary singer of being a “gaslighter and a manipulator” amid their ongoing legal battle over a Los Angeles home she has lived in for nearly four decades.

Efferson made the allegations in an interview with the Daily Mail published on October 28, after Wonder filed a lawsuit seeking to evict her from the property.

The 76-year-old musician reportedly asked a California court to end the verbal agreement that allowed Efferson to live in the home rent-free since 1988. His legal team claims she breached the agreement by refusing to allow insurance inspectors access to the property.

Efferson, however, maintains that Wonder promised her the house during their relationship and insists that she was never simply living there as a tenant.

“I didn’t even want the house at first, but he kept insisting,” Efferson told the Daily Mail. “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.”

She also criticised Wonder over the legal dispute, claiming he was attempting to portray her as dishonest.

“He’s going to paint this like I am the one who is lying, and there is no talking to this fool,” she said. “I’m so sick of someone like him always getting away with this s---.”

“Nobody wants to say this, but I know that he is a gaslighter and a manipulator,” Efferson added.

The legal dispute began earlier this year when Wonder’s representatives reportedly requested access to the property for an insurance inspection. According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on October 22, Efferson was informed that an inspector would visit the home on July 30 to assess it for insurance purposes.

The complaint alleges that Efferson refused the inspection, saying she felt harassed and did not consent to anyone entering the property. Wonder’s attorneys subsequently issued a 30-day notice requiring her to vacate the home by August 27.

Efferson did not leave the property, prompting Wonder to seek court intervention. His attorneys are asking for the verbal agreement to be terminated, along with reasonable legal fees and statutory damages.

The singer’s legal team claims that Efferson’s refusal to allow the inspection jeopardised the property’s insurance coverage. A source close to Wonder told the Daily Mail that the dispute was not personal and was instead about ensuring the safety and security of the home and its occupants.

Efferson has disputed the suggestion that she simply lived in the house without contributing financially, claiming she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on maintenance and repairs over the years.

She also alleged that Wonder and his representatives had not been in regular contact with her for years before the legal action began.

Efferson and Wonder reportedly became romantically involved in the 1980s, when she worked as a choreographer and artistic director during his In Square Circle tour. They were once engaged but never married.

The former couple’s dispute remains ongoing, with Efferson saying she intends to fight to remain in the home.

Representatives for Wonder and Efferson were contacted for comment by People,. but did not immediately respond.