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.
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]
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]
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