Reclusive real-estate empress Leona Helmsley is stepping into the media glare again - this time to defend herself against claims that she hates gays.

Lawyers for the so-called Queen of Mean tell us she was eager to take the stand in Manhattan Supreme Court recently when a $40 million wrongful-dismissal lawsuit came to trial.

Helmsley, 82, is being sued by Charles Bell, who claims she fired him as general manager of the Helmsley Park Lane hotel simply because he's gay.

Bell, 48, charges in his suit that:

Helmsley unleashed a campaign of "malevolent homophobia" against him. According to legal papers, Helmsley's bodyguard Andrew Martinez recalled Helmsley saying: "I want him [Bell] out, I want him gone."

Helmsley referred to people she didn't like as "gay." Bell claims he overheard Helmsley "seethe, 'I hate Donald Trump: Donald Trump is gay.'" (The twice-married Trump, who has lately had a rapprochement with Helmsley, declined to comment.)

Helmsley "became extremely agitated that an African-American security guard had been posted outside her apartment," claims Bell. "Furious, Helmsley stated that she did not want a [black] security guard." He claims she also had a "standing order" barring black maids from her apartment.

Helmsley "publicly fired an Asian florist, screaming, 'Get out of my hotel; you're not even American.'" Bell claims Helmsley "berated a Middle Eastern dining-room captain, telling him to go work for the New York Palace, owned by the Sultan of Brunei, adding: "I am trying to ruin them."

Helmsley's lawyer, Stephen Eckhaus, calls all these allegations "reckless, mean-spirited, vile lies" - noting that a black security guard "is standing outside her apartment right now."

Helmsley charges that Bell was fired for giving away rooms to his friends and holding a rowdy New Year's Eve party, in which revelers danced through the halls in their underwear.

Helmsley claimed that Bell "engaged in conduct unbecoming to a general manager by leaving his room with used condoms on the bed, floors and other locations to be cleaned up by the maids," who also found "various adult devices."

Bell's lawyer, Geri Krauss, calls those claims "completely trumped up."

A good year

Not a bad year for Derek Luke, who started it working at a Sony Pictures gift shop. He won the National Board of Review's Breakthrough Performance of the Year Award for his lead role in Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington's directorial debut, which hit theaters Dec. 20.

(With Suzanne Rozdeba and Ben Widdicombe)

Liz Smith is on vacation.