America's Next Top Model's Jay Manuel “homeless” for the holidays; his model house in Connecticut found unsafe because of serious structural defects
Fashion and beauty expert and host Jay Manuel best known for having long served as the director of photo shoots on the popular reality TV show America's Next Top Model and its spinoff, Canada's Next Top Model, will still be homeless these coming holidays says Perez Hilton. His once gorgeous house in Connecticut which has been showcased in an episode of NBC New York's Designer Living is in "shambles" because of a serious design defect that has made it unlivable.
According to US Weekly, a defect in the framing and installation caused a water condensing flaw in the home's exterior walls, forcing the 42-year-old Manuel to evacuate the house he bought just three years ago. An unnamed source told Perez Hilton that "the rot uncovered was consistent with a poorly build home over 75 years old." The source also said that because of the house's "latent building defects" no insurance company wants to be involved, further forcing Manuel to pay for the cost of rebuilding and refurbishing the house entirely out of his own pocket.
Manuel, who has been renting a modest nearby apartment since February while the rebuilding is going on, has already filed a lawsuit against the building team responsible for the fiasco - husband and wife Eric and Magdalena Kotonski of EK Construction, LLC. However, as with cases of this nature, the proceedings have been dragging out for several months now in court.
An unnamed source told US Weekly that "Jay will be spending the holidays with his family, who are so important to him. He has an amazing group of close friends, who have been there for him throughout the entire process and continue to be."
Manuel who was let go by Tyra Banks in 2012 from America's Next Top Model reality show after 18 seasons because of the show's plummeting ratings is the founder of Jay Manuel Beauty, a maker and distributor of an exclusive line of beauty products.