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29 March 2024

Zsa Zsa sells house 'because we're not rich'

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is seen in Beverly Hills in a 1992 file photo. (REUTERS)

Published
By AFP

Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband have put their Bel Air mansion up for sale because they can no longer afford the mortgage and her medical bills, he said Tuesday.

The house is on offer for 28 million dollars, Prinz Frederic von Anhalt said, showing reporters around the 28-room, 12,000-square-foot mansion in a plush area surrounded by homes to the rich and famous.

"I am sick and tired of hiding behind those three words, 'rich and famous,' he said. "Maybe we are famous, but we are not rich."

Gabor's medical care costs about $21,000 a month, and the mortgage and upkeep on the house take another $35,000. "We are talking about $56,000 I have to raise every month," he said.

"This is why I have to sell the house. It is a must."

The one condition for the buyer was that the ageing pair be allowed to remain in the house. "The new owner has to pay for everything," he said, voicing confidence that someone would offer to buy.

"Everybody is filthy rich around us, and so somebody is going to (want) the house," he said.

The couple decided to sell after the 93-year-old actress had most of her right leg amputated earlier this month, due to an infection that doctors determined would have killed her had it not been treated.

The flamboyant star - who was read the last rites during a health scare last year - has been in hospital since just after the New Year due to the infection.

The health of the Hungarian-born actress has been deteriorating for a number of years. She was partly paralyzed in a car crash in 2002, and suffered a stroke in 2005.

Last July she was hospitalized after she fell and broke her hip. She underwent hip replacement surgery but suffered more complications, including a blood clot for which she had more surgery.

During another hospital stay in August, she called in a priest to administer last rites, then left the hospital a day later insisting that she wanted to be back in her Bel Air home.

Gabor's long career includes spots in a dozen films and TV series, including John Huston's 1952 "Moulin Rouge" and the 1958 film noir "Touch of Evil" by Orson Welles. She also lent her voice to several animated films and TV series.

But the platinum blonde is especially known for her flamboyant lifestyle, legal troubles, nine marriages and a propensity to call just about everyone "darling" with her distinctive accent.