BELLAIRE, Texas – A Bellaire socialite is speaking out for the first time about why she is standing by her man – the same man accused of hiring hit men to get rid of her.
Yvonne Stern was shot at three different times in 2010. The first two bullets missed their mark, but the third hit her in the stomach.
Stern’s husband, Jeffrey, and his former mistress, Michelle Gaiser, wanted her dead, according to prosecutors.
But Stern doesn’t believe Jeffrey was involved in the plot.
"Today, because of all that we’ve been through, our marriage is stronger than it’s ever been," Stern told Texas Monthly Executive Editor Skip Hollandsworth. "It’s full of love, it’s full of honesty, and it’s full of forgiveness."
Prosecutors say Jeffrey Stern solicited Gaiser to arrange for the murder of his wife in April of 2010. When that didn’t work, they tried again in May.
"I made a decision to forgive my husband for his affair and how dare anyone criticize me for that," Stern told Hollandsworth.
Hollandsworth’s piece, "Sex, Lies and Hit men," delves into the three failed attempts on her life and the affair between her husband and his former employee, Gaiser.
The interview took place in December at Vietopia near Highway 59 and Buffalo Speedway.
"She walks into the restaurant and she is a knockout," Hollandsworth told KHOU 11 News. "She is dressed in a black coat, black turtle neck, black pants, black boots up to her waist and this snappy black fedora and everybody in the restaurant flips around to give her a look. It’s not only because she looks stunning, it’s because she’s Yvonne Stern, the most famous woman in Houston who has stood by her man."
Stern talked with Hollandsworth about the many rumors surrounding the case, including the idea that the only reason she’s staying with her husband is for his money.
"She is the one that brings up that there is no pre-nup, that she isn’t getting paid anything, that’s she not getting bribed to pretend he’s innocent. And she points out that if she got a divorce, she would be a much wealthier woman because she would get the law firm, she would get all of Jeffrey’s money," said Hollandsworth.
Stern is charged with two counts of solicitation of capital murder. He’s set to go to trial in April.
Gaiser has agreed to a 25-year sentence in exchange for her testimony against him.
Hollandsworth was given access to a 70-page letter that Gaiser wrote after her arrest.
"According to her story, she was led into the arena of murder by Jeffrey Stern getting her to fantasize about it during their sexual experiences together," said the Texas Monthly writer.
Yvonne Stern told Hollandsworth that she knows why she survived the shootings.
"It was so that I could have a voice in this matter and help my husband get through this, because nobody really knows him like I do," she told Hollandsworth.
The Texas Monthly issue that features the Sterns is on newsstands now.
