The “Upper West Side apartment building” happened to be the Trump Tower, so I think the mother (who is a kindergarten teacher) was pretty well off herself - she’s donating the settlement to a non-profit.
This makes it sound like Patti LaBelle was out slumming or humbly staying in a low-rent district, but she was doing her usual thing, which was bringing the slum and its ugly attitudes to wherever she is. She has the “don’t you know who I am” syndrome.
She’s ugly in many ways but not so washed up that she cannot afford these lux UWS digs. I think she plays some of the Indian casinos