BY Marie Mcgovern and Nancy Dillon | The Daily News
The fairy-tale marriage of Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is crumbling over a princess.
The mysterious Ethiopian beauty at the center of the divorce between Bravo TV’s “The Real Housewives of New York” star and her husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, has been unmasked as Princess Kemeria Abajobir Abajifar, reports Ethioplanet.com.
She is the descendant of King Abajifar, the last ruler of a powerful kingdom in the Gibe region of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian news Web site said.
An unnamed source said it was the wish of both the princess and Count Lesseps, 59, that she no longer be identified as “the Ethiopian woman” but rather with her royal credentials.
It was last month that de Lesseps, 43, discovered her husband of 16 years was serious with another woman in Geneva. She said she was “blindsided” by the news and added that she found out after the count sent her an e-mail.
“I just think some people aren’t good at confrontation,” she said.
The former model, who has a book due out next week titled “Class with the Countess,” told People magazine that she quietly separated from her husband more than three months ago but felt “ashamed” when news of his infidelity broke.
“It’s been like a death,” she told People. “You go through anger, bereavement. It’s really an end to a part of your life.”
She and the count have two children: Noel, 12, and Victoria, 14.