NY– Painter and sculptor Jeff Koons, best known for a stainless-steel rabbit, was sued by his ex- wife, former porn star Ilona Staller, who says he owes at least 1.52 million euros ($2.4 million) in child support.
Staller, known as “Cicciolina” and also a former member of Italy’s parliament, sued Koons in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan yesterday, asking for enforcements of a judgment entered by Italian courts rejecting his right to custody of the couple’s son, Ludwig, 15. The couple, who married in 1991, divorced in New York in 1994, according to the complaint. Staller lives in Italy with her son, she said.
Koons was directed by the Italian courts to pay 15,000 euros a month in child support beginning in 1998 as well as fees for legal proceedings in Italy, according to the suit. He didn’t made any monthly payments from Oct. 1, 1998, to Dec. 31, 2007, Staller claimed in her suit.
“Jeff Koons is a very famous New York artist noted for his use of kitsch imagery using painting, sculpture and other forms who exhibits his work all over the world and sells it at a very high price,” Staller said in her suit. “Koons accepted the jurisdiction of the Italian Courts and acknowledged to abide by the judgments to be rendered.”
The artist owes an additional 30,000 euros for January and February, Staller said. He has paid only about 191,426 euros for Ludwig’s care, the suit said.
Peter Kurshan, a lawyer for Staller, didn’t return a voice- mail message left at his office seeking comment. A woman who answered the telephone at Koons’s Manhattan gallery said he was traveling and wasn’t immediately available for comment.
3,500-Pound Heart
Koons, a former Wall Street commodities broker, sold a 3,500-pound, hot-pink, stainless-steel “Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)” for $23.6 million at Sotheby’s in November. That was a record that established Koons as the priciest living artist at any auction.
Koons’s subject matter has included his ex-wife and a sculpture of puppy the size of a house. Collectors of his artwork include billionaire Los Angeles executive Eli Broad and Christie’s owner Francois Pinault.
The case is Ilona Staller v. Jeffrey Koons, 104330/2008, New York Supreme Court (Manhattan).