NYC socialite, 88, trapped in home against her will, friend claims in suit

Socialite and oil heiress Christophe de Menil is allegedly being confined to her Upper East Side townhouse against her will by her previously estranged daughter, her friend has claimed in bizarre new court documents.

The 88-year-old’s daughter, Taya Thurman, is allegedly preventing the jewelry designer from having visitors or leaving her home on East 81st Street, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Alina Morini – a woman who describes herself as de Menil’s “dear friend, confidant and moral supporter of 15 years” – filed the complaint as she attempts to sue de Menil’s daughter.

Thurman’s attorney Sheila Tendy on Thursday slammed Morini’s allegations as “absolutely false.”

Morini alleges that de Menil’s daughter, who is the half-sister of actress Uma Thurman, had been estranged from her mother for 30 years before recently being appointed power of attorney when they reconciled.

She said de Menil has become increasingly isolated at the hands of her daughter ever since and has tried to revoke power of attorney from her offspring on multiple occasions, according to the complaint.

The claims of isolation are a far cry from the socialite lifestyle de Menil — a scion of the international Schlumberger oil dynasty — had maintained in the Big Apple.

De Menil, who was briefly married to Uma Thurman’s father Robert Thurman from 1959 to 1961, and Morini were often photographed attending events together.

Morini claims she had lived with de Menil in her townhouse for the last six years but was evicted by Taya Thurman in February as part of a “well-orchestrated scheme” to force a “rift” between the two friends, according to the court docs.

She also alleges Thurman and her lawyer arranged for Morini to be arrested when she returned to the townhouse in March at de Menil’s request.

As evidence to support her claims, Morini included a written statement that she claims was penned by de Menil on the day of Morini’s arrest, saying she wanted her friend to “live with me, in my home.”

“She lived with me for 5-6 years… Nobody influences me in this statement,” the written statement said.

Morini is seeking $5 million in damages for her false arrest, imprisonment and wrongful eviction.

“These reprehensible allegations are absolutely false,” Thurman’s attorney told the Post.

“Alina Morini was arrested for conning her way into Christophe de Menil’s apartment.  We believe this frivolous lawsuit is a ploy intended to influence other legal proceedings.”

To back up Morini’s claims, the complaint includes a June email that one of de Menil’s other friends, Nico Iliev, allegedly wrote to investigators at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office on June 3 regarding the socialite’s alleged…