Leona Helmsley Tribute

I read this Daily News article:

Leona Helmsley's former housekeeper said yesterday the Queen of Mean's pampered $12 million pooch made life miserable for the hired help.

"We had so much trouble with Trouble," Zamfira Sfara told the Daily News. "I was bitten dozens of times."

The Romanian housekeeper, who worked in Helmsley's posh apartment in the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, described the lavish life the 8-year-old Maltese shared with Helmsley.

The hotel queen, who died last week at age 87, showered love and money on the furball, who snagged the largest individual trust from her fortune, which is worth at least $4 billion. Helmsley .believed her late husband, Harry, communicated with her through the dog.

"I never saw a human being so in love with an animal," said Sfara, 48. "They were always together everywhere."

Helmsley even shared her double king-size bed with Trouble, Sfara said, and lots of kisses.

"She would lick the dog tongue to tongue," she said. "It was unnatural. It was unhealthy."

So it didn't surprise the maid that her old boss left $12 million to the pet while disowning two grandchildren she had feuded with for years.

"Leona wanted everybody to love her, but she knew nobody loved her," Sfara said. "This dog replaced that love."

Trouble was dressed in pricey outfits and sported a diamond collar. The dog's chef-prepared meals - steamed vegetables and steamed or grilled chicken and fish - arrived in porcelain bowls on a silver tray.

"The chef would have to leave all the [hotel] customers to make Trouble's food," Sfara said. "After it was mixed, I would have to get down on my knees and feed the dog with my two fingers."

Trouble, apparently, didn't appreciate Helmsley's hired help.

"Everybody was bitten: bodyguards, the head of security, even customers got bitten," said Sfara, who sued Helmsley in 2005 after, she said, Trouble bit her.

"You'd never know when she would bite you," she said. "One time when she bit me, she was chewing on my fingers, and Leona said, 'Good for you, Trouble, she deserved it.' "

Sfara, who worked for Helmsley for several months, said she suffered permanent nerve damage from Trouble's bites. She still wears a brace on her right hand.

Helmsley fought Sfara's suit, now on appeal, until the day she died.

Helmsley didn't think two of her own grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, deserved any of her money, either. She left them out of a will filed this week in Manhattan Surrogate's Court.

"She spends $12 million on a dog and nothing for her grandkids," said Sfara. "Forget about me, what about her grandchildren? What about her blood?"