New York Post

Nightmare 'attack' by Cyndi son

Accuser’s fed suit vs. pop scion

- By PRISCILLA DeGREGORY

Cyndi Lauper’s troubled son has been hit with a sexual assault lawsuit by a former gal pal who claims he attacked her after inviting her over to his Manhattan apartment four years ago, leaving her feeling powerless and afraid, The Post has learned.

The legendary pop singer’s son, Declyn “Dex” Lauper Thornton, allegedly pressured the woman to give him oral sex and manhandled her, holding her down while shoving his penis in her face, according to the Manhattan federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

“After the assault, that’s when I went into a panic,” the woman, who is bringing the suit anonymousl­y as a Jane Doe, told The Post in an exclusive phone interview about the alleged Nov. 9, 2020, attack in Lauper Thornton’s Soho home.

Living in fear

“I felt like my life was really in danger at that point,” she said.

The suit adds to the legal troubles of Lauper Thornton, 26, who is separately being threatened with eviction from the $7,200-a-month Financial District apartment he moved into in October, and has prior arrests on theft and gun possession charges.

The plaintiff, a 28-year-old insurance broker who lived in New York but has since moved out of state, is seeking unspecifie­d damages for the “emotional and psychologi­cal damage” she experience­d as a result of the “humiliatin­g” attack, the court papers say.

She dated Lauper Thornton, the only son of the music icon and her “Law & Order” actor hubby David Thornton, on and off for roughly nine months beginning in February 2020, according to the suit.

The day of the alleged attack, Lauper Thornton sent her $60 on Cash App for her to take a private car from her place to his Thompson Street apartment, were he lived at the time, the court papers say.

‘Seemed agitated’

When she arrived, Lauper Thornton “seemed agitated” and they “both soon disagreed about a sexual act” he allegedly wanted her to perform on him, according to the suit.

Lauper Thornton allegedly pushed her onto his bed three times as she tried to leave his bedroom, before exposing his penis and holding her arms down, the lawsuit claims.

Doe “repeatedly told Mr. Lauper to let her get up because he was too strong, but he refused,” the suit charges.

He then “forcibly smother[ed] his genitals over Jane Doe’s mouth, as Jane Doe warned him that she would bite him” and placed her teeth there, the lawsuit states.

He then allegedly pushed down on her neck and head with his hands, using all of his body weight, causing “a pop sound from her neck and upper spine,” the suit states.

Lauper Thornton finally released the hold after the “pop sound,” according to the suit.

“You see, I told you not to do that,” he said, before calling her a “bitch” and a “n—a” and threatenin­g that no one would believe her if she repeated what happened, the suit alleges.

Doe then grabbed Lauper Thornton’s cell as leverage so she could get her own phone back and the pair did an exchange of their devices in his kitchen, the court papers claim.

After the woman left and was standing in his building lobby, Lauper Thornton called her “saying that he was sorry for what he had just done to her,” the suit claims.

But she was “terrified in his presence” and never saw him again despite his efforts for the pair to meet up “several” more times, documents allege.

The woman — who didn’t file criminal charges — said she didn’t come forward sooner with her story because “I felt powerless at the time.”

“People may need to be warned about this guy,” she said.

Lauper Thornton has made headlines this year, most recently in April when The Post reported his landlord had filed a lawsuit to evict him from his luxury apartment, accusing him of being a neighbor from hell who plays loud music, screams late into the night and whose unit stinks of weed.

A working phone number couldn’t be found for Lauper Thornton. It wasn’t clear if he had retained an attorney in the suit, and his criminal attorney didn’t return a request for comment.

 ?? ?? TROUBLE: Cyndi Lauper with son Declyn Lauper Thornton, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a onetime girlfriend at his luxury apartment in the Financial District.
TROUBLE: Cyndi Lauper with son Declyn Lauper Thornton, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a onetime girlfriend at his luxury apartment in the Financial District.

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