This month’s theme is rich people gone broke. I’ve decided to write about Zsa Zsa Gabor. If you would like to participate in our group writing project please submit your post here.

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Zsa Zsa Gabor was born in Hugary in about 1917 (no one knows for sure). She isn’t really famous for anything, except maybe her high profile lovers. She was married to a Turkish foreign affairs minister and had an affair with the President of Turkey. Then, shortly after coming to the US, she married Conrad Hilton, of Hilton Hotels, in 1942. Yup, she’s related to Paris. (Conrad is Paris’s great grandfather) Very fitting when you consider she was only famous for being famous. Creating drama and spending money seem to her most developed skills.

Conrad Hilton was frustrated by Zsa Zsa’s overspending and put her on a budget of $250 a month. Zsa Zsa found this unacceptable and divorced him in 1946. Zsa Zsa went on to have 7 other marriages. One of which was to Fredric von Anhalt, aka Robert Lichtenburg. In 2007 Fredric claimed to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter Dannielynn. Wow, ties to Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith? I suppose I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Zsa Zsa may be best known for getting into fights. She brought a lawsuit (and then dropped it) against an English aristocrat, claiming the woman pushed her and her daughter on a plane. She slapped a bell boy in London. She was removed from a plane for smuggling clothing. She held a press conference claiming someone was trying to kill her. And, of course, she slapped a cop in 1989 when she was pulled over for driving on an expired license.

Zsa Zsa’s love for drama finally got her sued in 1993 for libel by actress Elke Sommer. The fight started when Elke Sommer said that Zsa Zsa had a big butt. Zsa Zsa retorted with a comment about Elke’s career being washed up. The lawsuit came when Zsa Zsa made some disparaging comments about Elke Sommer to a German reporter. (I was unable to find out what she said exactly. If anyone knows, please tell me.) The courts found in Elke’s favor and Zsa Zsa was forced to pay between 1 million and 3.3 million dollars. This forced Zsa Zsa to claim bankruptcy in 1994.

In 2002 Zsa Zsa was in a terrible car accident that left her partially paralyzed and wheelchair bound. She has not spoken to the press since the accident.

Resources:

NNDB

Vintage Culture