The famed photographer who seduced Marilyn Monroe with his lens spent his final years flanked by a pair of sexy brunettes who are fighting for a share of his estate.
Twins Lynette and Lisa Lavender spent 19 years by the side of celebrity shutterbug Bert Stern.
He was the most important person in their lives, they said.
“We loved him very much, to the point that we never married, nor had children of our own,” the sisters wrote in a detailed account of their life with Stern filed in a Manhattan court.
“We were happy and content with our lives creating Art and going to the house, relaxing and enjoying the pool. It was Bert and the Twins and everyone knew we had a great relationship together.”
Lynette Lavender began dating Stern, 30 years her senior, in 1993. Lisa rounded out the threesome by handling Stern’s business deals and family affairs, the women claim.
Stern is famed for his sexy snaps of a nude Monroe taken just weeks before her death in 1962. He also photographed Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Mia Farrow.
The Lavenders say they were an integral part of his life, and attended family parties and holidays and cut his hair. They also “jeweled” some of Stern’s famed shots by attaching Swarovski crystals to the prints, which they then sold.
But two beautiful women were not enough for Stern. In 2009, he married Shannah Laumeister. The union was a secret to Stern’s other relatives, who learned of the betrothal a few weeks before he died in 2013.
Laumeister abused Stern in his final days, the Lavenders say in their court filing. They also say Laumeister cut them out of a $50,000 bequest from Stern, and want a judge to force her to turn over seven “jeweled” images they made with Stern worth $350,000.
Laumeister’s lawyer, Alan Behr, said the twins’ charges are an “insult” to Laumeister “and to her love for her late husband.” He added that the Lavenders’ claim has “no bearing on reality.”
But the twins insist in their court filing that Stern was closer to Lynette than he was to his wife.
“We did not see any affection of love between them [Stern and Laumeister],” the Lavenders wrote.
“Shannah never told us they were secretly married,” the twins’ filing said. “And we never felt that they were married. Bert only wanted to do what Lynette wanted to do.”
Yet the marriage meant something to Stern. As his health failed, he begged the twins to call Laumeister instead of bringing him to a hospital, the Lavenders say.
Laumeister barred the twins from Stern’s house in his final days. For their last visit with him, they had to sneak in when Laumeister wasn’t around, they said in court papers.
Laumeister allegedly rewrote the photographer’s will in 2012. That sparked a court battle with Stern’s three children over his $10 million estate, which has since settled.