Upper East Side socialite Amber Lightfoot Walker reneged on the $10 million-worth penthouse gift for her son's health aide worker.
According to The Real Deal, Lalitangi Balasuriya, a Buddhist immigrant from Sri Lanka, worked as a home health aid to the Walkers. She was the one who took care of Walker's son for 20 long years. Back in 2012, the socialite wrote a will, leaving the nurse Walker's Park Avenue co-op penthouse apartment. However, Walker made a couple of revisions to her will before she died last 2014. Walker first decided to reduce Balasuriya's gift to $25,000 cash, but then she later on opted not to leave her anything.
According to DNA Info, nurse Balasuriya does not have any idea that Walker had once put her in her will until the publishing informed her last week. She was not aware about the original will and so as with the changes that were made to it. However, it seems like money is not everything for Balasuriya as she shrugged off the said news.
Balasuriya said, "We get everything we need from our parents. So what more?"
She then added, "I'm not upset. I'm not greedy. I'm quite happy."
Based from Walker's lawyer, Glen Opell the reason that Walker changed her mind on her plans to make Balasuriya ultimately rich is that way they had "a contentious relationship over the years."
Aside from that Opell also mentioned that after "a final falling out," Walker finally decided not to give the $25,000 intended for Balasuriya and just leave her with nothing.
Balasuriya made it clear that she cannot remember any "contentious relationship" or final disagreement with Walker. But then, she admitted that Walker is "difficult," and said, "She wasn't nice at all to anybody."
She added, "I took her with a grain of salt."
Meanwhile, the two-bedroom and four-bathroom penthouse apartment is currently in the market for $9.95 million. It is under the brokerage firm of Douglas Elliman.