July 4, 2019 | Kyle Climans

Scandalous Facts About Zsa Zsa Gabor, The Hollywood Diva


It was a beautiful, terrible thing to be Zsa Zsa Gabor. One of the most stunning women of her century, Gabor wore Hollywood like a skin-tight dress, languishing in its glamour, its galas, and its dark side. Through her incredible nine marriages, she found out—and aired—some of the dirtiest laundry in Tinseltown. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t have secrets of her own…


Zsa Zsa Gabor Facts

1. She Came From A Beautiful Family

Zsa Zsa actually came from a family of drop-dead beauties. Born in Hungary as Sari Gabor, her sisters were the future socialite Magda Gabor and fellow actress Eva Gabor. But although her siblings earned a ton of notoriety for their own scandalous love lives, it’s their middle sister Zsa Zsa who has become synonymous with Hollywood infamy—and for good reason.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in pink dress Isabel Santos Pilot, Flickr,

Advertisement

2. She Was "Discovered" Young

When Zsa Zsa was just 17 years old, her entire life changed in the blink of an eye. According to Gabor, she was walking the streets of Vienna, Austria, on a vacation when the opera singer Richard Tauber spotted her from across the road.

Advertisement

Tauber, who dabbled in film roles, knew a superstar when he saw one, and invited her to join him on stage for a show. It was the beginning of her fame, and Zsa Zsa knew exactly what to do with it.

Tauber SingsGeneral Photographic Agency, Getty Images

Advertisement

3. She Was A Teenage Bride

Within the year, Zsa Zsa’s name was on everybody’s lips. She won the Miss Hungary competition in 1936 when she was still a teenager—and then she took it up a notch. In 1937, just barely out of her teen years, she married the Turkish politician Burhan Asaf Belge, feeling that his prestige matched her ambitions.

Advertisement

Yet like so many youthful decisions, this was a big mistake.

Portrait of Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa GaborPictorial Parade, Getty Images

Advertisement

4. She Rebounded In A Strange Way

Even this early on, Gabor was developing her most infamous habit. She hated staying put, and she especially hated staying put with one man. By the early 1940s, Zsa Zsa’s first marriage was over. On the rebound, she and her sisters thought it was high time to leave Hungary behind for the United States.

Advertisement

The Gabors packed up their trunks, and suddenly started popping up in parties from New York to Hollywood. And boy, did they make an impression.

Eva Gabor circa 1940Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Advertisement

5. She Was Stunning

By this time, Zsa Zsa had developed from a coltish, promising girl into an unforgettable bombshell. She had a glass-cut jaw, full lips, and dark, intelligent eyes.

Advertisement

It helped that her sisters Magda and Eva were (almost) as beautiful. As television host Merv Griffin remembered their appearance on the scene, “They burst onto the society pages and into the gossip columns so suddenly, and with such force, it was as if they'd been dropped out of the sky”.

Unfortunately for Zsa Zsa, she was about to meet the man who would be her downfall.

Advertisement

Hungarian actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor with her family at the Hotel SacherKeystone, Getty Images

Advertisement

6. She Had A Sugar Daddy

In the early 1940s, Gabor was just out of her first marriage but seemingly none the wiser when it came to her love life. Because when she met and started courting the hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, Sr. (yes, that Hilton), she didn’t seem to care that he was three decades older than her, or that he had a cutthroat reputation around town. No, Gabor only cared that he had money, and lots of it—so she ignored some HUGE red flags...

Conrad Hilton, Sr in suitHarry Pot, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

7. Her Boyfriend Was Messed Up

For one, although Hilton was a very rich man, he was also a damaged one.

Advertisement

In his first marriage, he had been a devout Catholic raising three young boys. But then his wife left him for a football coach, sending him into a Bacchanalian spiral that threw him into Zsa Zsa’s world of nightclubs and loose morals. Yeah, it is not a good idea to date a man in the middle of his mid-life crisis, but that was just the beginning of the nightmare.

Zsa Zsa Gabor - Premiere 1960Wire press photo, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

8. Her Husband Deprived Her

In 1942, Gabor and Hilton married, and the budding socialite must have thought she’d struck gold when he put the wedding ring on her hand. She couldn’t have been more wrong. The Conrad Hilton who had so lavishly courted Gabor was actually nothing more than a miser in his personal life, which certainly wasn’t what she signed up for. And as time went on, the cracks grew deeper.

Advertisement

Zsa Zsa Gabor sitting on a couchNixon, Getty Images

Advertisement

9. She Was Trapped In Her Marriage

In the heady early days of her marriage to the tycoon, Gabor realized she had made a horrible mistake. Hilton wasn’t just cheap, he was also cold and cruel. Quickly annoyed with Gabor’s taste for the finer things in life, Hilton kept her on a meager budget and tracked all her spending. More than that, he forced her to sleep in a separate room from him.

Advertisement

He had a more personal insult to come, however.

Portrait of Conrad HiltonBettmann, Getty Images

Advertisement
Factinate

Sign up to our newsletter.

History’s most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Making distraction rewarding since 2017.

Thank you!
Error, please try again.

10. Her Husband Tried To Change Her

While married to Gabor, Hilton changed her name to “Georgia,” claiming he couldn’t and wouldn’t pronounce her Hungarian first name. Zsa Zsa later commented that this move "symbolized everything my marriage to him would eventually become. My Hungarian roots were to be ripped out and my background ignored”. But just when she thought it couldn’t get worse, it came to a disturbing finale.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in pink dress Isabel Santos Pilot, Flickr

Advertisement

11. She Played Nurse

According to Hilton himself, the killing blow in his marriage to Gabor happened one day in 1946, when he and Zsa Zsa were staying at his hotel, The Plaza.

Advertisement

That day, Conrad was sick with the flu, and he made Gabor stay with him and be his nursemaid. As a result, the unhappy couple was stuck in their (admittedly fancy) suites for the day. This did not end well.

Plaza HotelOptimumPx, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

12. She Was Vain

Although Gabor was indoors with Hilton, she also wanted to look her best for her husband.

Advertisement

Accordingly, she changed every couple of hours for breakfast, then lunch, then tea time, and finally dinner. Her husband’s response was chilling. Instead of appreciating this, Hilton was apoplectic at her gaudy show. His next move was heartless.

Zsa Zsa Gabor Wearing A Big HatKeystone, Getty Images

Advertisement

13. She Went Through A Brutal Breakup

In the end, it was Hilton who initiated the split from Gabor, citing this seemingly innocent fashion parade as part of his grounds for divorce.

Advertisement

He also screwed her right over, refusing to give her nearly anything in the settlement and barely anything in the way of alimony. For a girl like Zsa Zsa, Hilton intended it as the ultimate punishment. But she was about to throw a curveball.

Conrad Hilton in suit Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Advertisement

14. She Had An Ace Up Her Sleeve

Throughout the entire court proceedings of her divorce, Zsa Zsa was hiding an enormous secret. She was actually pregnant with Conrad Hilton’s child, a daughter she had in March 1947 and named Francesca. In the end, Gabor raised Francesca entirely on her own, not even asking for child support.

Advertisement

Yet as we’ll see, Gabor was hiding more secrets about her marriage to Hilton, and it would take her years to reveal them.

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor and her daughter Francesca at airport Bettmann, Getty Images

Advertisement

15. She Used Her Own Daughter

Although Gabor didn’t ask for child support, she did use Francesca as a pawn in other, crueler ways. Gabor kept the girl with her on the set of films and in a series of hotels, but if she ever needed to contact Conrad for anything, she would dangle Francesca in front of him as an excuse to keep the communications open, often dropping into his life for surprise visits long after their split.

Advertisement

 Zsa Zsa Gabor with her husband Herbert Hutner and daughter Francesca HiltonExpress, Getty Images

Advertisement

16. She Was In A Hostage Situation

Unfortunately, Gabor’s newly single life took a terrifying nose dive almost immediately after Francesca was born. One evening while baby Francesca was sleeping in bed, a burglar broke into Gabor’s house. He then tied up the socialite and her maid, threatening to kill her little girl unless Zsa Zsa told him where her jewelry was.

Advertisement

Not even Zsa Zsa loved baubles more than her daughter, and she gave them up immediately. Whether or not this terror made Gabor think twice about living alone, she did rebound fast.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in white dress BJ Alias, Flickr

Advertisement

17. She Got A Revenge Husband

After Gabor finally got free of Conrad Hilton, she threw herself right back into the fire, taking up with the actor George Sanders, a distinguished, upper-class Brit known for playing well-bred villains.

Advertisement

His flame with Zsa Zsa, however, was anything but sophisticated. Although he had been married for nearly a decade to another woman, in 1949 he pushed through a divorce and married Gabor instead.

The third time was supposed to be the charm…but Gabor had no such luck.

George Sanders in plaid suit Stephenson, Getty Images

Advertisement

18. She Became A Screen Siren

To be fair, Gabor started off her nuptials to Sanders with a bang.

Advertisement

Although she hadn’t really starred in Hollywood productions before, she now dipped her feet into acting and got work in films like Moulin Rouge within just a few short months. Most of these parts weren’t exactly starring roles, but Zsa Zsa and her adoring fans didn’t care. And the closer she got to the spotlight, the further she got from George Sanders.

Advertisement

Zsa Zsa Gabor in Moulin Rouge (1952)Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

19. Her Ex Slept With Her Sister

By 1954, Gabor had enough of Sanders, and the couple divorced. But there was one final, stunning twist. Some years and several wives later, Sanders actually married Zsa Zsa’s older sister Magda. Whether he just missed the good times with his first Gabor or not, this marriage lasted a paltry 32 days, and drove Sanders to the brink of alcoholism. Zsa Zsa always comes out on top.

Advertisement

 Magda Gabor Leaning on Column SmilingBettmann, Getty Images

Advertisement

20. She Was In A Cinema Classic

Zsa Zsa may have shaken herself free of George Sanders, but she hadn’t shaken off the acting bug—and she knew just how to get the most plum roles. In 1958, she snagged a cameo appearance in Orson Welles' classic Touch of Evil. How? Well, producer Albert Zugsmith wanted her on set as his special friend.

Advertisement

Still, this was Zsa Zsa, so she was on to the next man soon after.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in black dress Universal, Touch of Evil (1958)

Advertisement

21. She Tried To Settle Down

In 1962, Zsa Zsa married a man named Herbert Hutner—and while wedding bells were a familiar sound to the actress, Hutner was unusual in one way. Namely, he was normal. A private investment banker, he still had healthy coffers (of course), but otherwise led a quiet life.

Advertisement

For the first time in her life, Gabor was happy. Which meant it ended horribly.

Zsa Zsa Gabor at a beach REPORTERS ASSOCIES, Getty Images

Advertisement

22. Her Husband Almost "Annihilated" Her

We always let the good ones go, but that goes double for Zsa Zsa Gabor. She and Hutner called it quits by 1966, and looking back on her fourth (yes, fourth) marriage, Gabor admitted that Hutner’s “kindness and generosity” toward her “almost annihilated” her drive to succeed. Instead, she wanted excitement.

Advertisement

Oh, and she got it.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in animal print dress and jewelsIsabel Santos Pilot, Flickr

Advertisement

23. She Was A Maneater

The next years of Gabor’s life were a blur of failed marriages; by 1986, she tied the knot a whopping four more times, bringing her husband total up to eight. Most of the unions didn’t even last two years. Her marriage to character actor Felipe de Alba, however, lasted just one day—the regretful couple annulled it immediately after signing the papers. Somehow, though, Gabor still had one last scandalous marriage to come.

Advertisement

Zsa Zsa Gabor in floral dressRob Mieremet, CC BY-SA 4.0 , Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

24. She Married A Prince

In the mid-80s, Gabor married Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, who started out the decade as a regular German businessman named Hans Lichtenberg, but had managed to become a prince in a very weird way. In 1980, Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt adopted Frederic when he was a ripe 36 years old, likely for some kind of monetary gain.

Advertisement

If this guy sounds shady, that’s because he was.

 Prince Frederic von Anhalt and portrait of Zsa Zsa Gabor Michael Buckner, Getty Images

Advertisement

25. Her Fairy Tale Was A Lie

Zsa Zsa’s daughter Francesca was immediately on guard about Frederic, and it only got worse as Gabor’s marriage went on. Soon, Francesca accused the “prince” of intentionally limiting her time with her mother and isolating her in general from her other friends. As Francesca once quipped, “My mother wanted to be a princess, so she married an evil queen”.

But well, if we believe Francesca, that was the LEAST of the prince’s control of Zsa Zsa.

 Zsa Gabor and Francesca Hilton Sighting Ron Galella, Getty Images

Advertisement

26. She Wanted To Have Another Child At 94

During Gabor’s marriage to Frederic, the actress gave a series of incredibly bizarre statements. When she was 94, she even claimed that she wanted to have another child, and wanted a surrogate to carry the baby.

Advertisement

No, really. Francesca blamed this circus squarely on Frederic—but Gabor’s beau bit back in a terrifying way.

Zsa Zsa Gabor and husband Ron Galella, Ltd, Getty Images

Advertisement

27. Her Husband Betrayed Her Daughter

Gabor's relationship with her daughter Francesca Hilton was rocky at the best of times, but it went from fragile to horrific. In 2005, Frederic sued Francesca, claiming she was trying to defraud her mother.

Advertisement

There was just one problem. When Frederic brought the papers for Gabor to sign, she refused to sue her own daughter, and the courts kicked the suit out.

Even so, there were sinister changes happening to Gabor.

Francesca Hilton in black Toby Canham, Getty Images

Advertisement

28. She Was In An Infamous Hollywood Feud

Like many Old Hollywood celebrities, Gabor got into some scandalous feuds, but her spat with starlet Elke Sommer was downright disastrous.

Advertisement

The feud began after the two women appeared on the annual television special Circus of the Stars. Reportedly, Sommer made comments about Gabor's weight: When Sommer watched Gabor mount a horse, she muttered, "Poor horse". But that was just the warning shot.

Elke Sommer at an airport Express, Getty Images

Advertisement

29. She Dealt Her Rival A Cruel Insult

As time went on, the feud only got more and more bitter.

Advertisement

Eventually, Gabor and her husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt gave a shocking interview. In it, they insulted Sommer for looking like a balding, "100-year-old grandmother". Gabor also added that the actress was so poor she "had to sell her house in Hollywood and now lives in the worst section of Los Angeles". Only, words have consequences.

Advertisement

..

Elke Sommer and a friendA.k.zehnnullzwo, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

30. She Had A Perfect Comeback

Eventually, the feud—and this series of colorful comments—landed Gabor and Sommer in libel court in 1992. As it turned out, Gabor's rival won, and the court awarded Sommer a nice $3.3 million in damages. Gabor’s reply was perfect. Upon hearing the verdict, Gabor immediately announced her intent to appeal, stating bitterly, “I’d rather see her starve to death than give her one single dollar”. Ouch.

Advertisement

Zsa Zsa was in a downward spiral, and she had much further to drop.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in greenVicki L. Miller, Shutterstock

Advertisement

31. She Assaulted A Policeman

On June 14, 1989, officer Paul Kramer pulled Gabor over while she was driving a Rolls-Royce in Beverly Hills. Not only was she driving without a license, but there was also an open alcohol container in the car.

Advertisement

Oh, but it got so much worse. Instead of admitting any culpability, Gabor slapped Kramer in the face and drove away from the traffic stop. Did she get away with this? Absolutely not.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in black in front of a carAlden Jewell, Flickr

Advertisement

32. She Went To Jail

No amount of charm or Hollywood pedigree could get Gabor out of this one, especially when law enforcement and the press got a hold of what she’d done. Three months later, a judge convicted Gabor of slapping Kramer.

Advertisement

She had to pay a hefty fine and serve three days in jail for her bad behavior. That's right, in 1990, a 72-year-old Gabor went into the slammer.

Zsa Zsa Gabor  in floral dress Bettmann, Getty Images

Advertisement

33. She Got Into A Horrible Car Crash

Gabor lived an incredibly long life, and she was relatively healthy well into her 80s. However, in 2002, a horrific tragedy struck.

Advertisement

Driving on Sunset Boulevard, Gabor crashed while in the passenger seat. She was never the same again: Her injuries partially paralyzed her, and she needed a wheelchair to get around. And when it rains, it pours.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in pink suit KIM KULISH, Getty Images

Advertisement

34. Her Body Fell Apart

After her car accident in 2002, Gabor suffered multiple strokes, and very nearly lost her life between 2010 and 2011, when she underwent various emergency surgeries.

Advertisement

One of the riskiest ones was an amputation of her right leg above the knee after an infection ravaged her body. Still, that’s just the physical issues. She also had darker personal problems…

Zsa Zsa Gabor sitting on a couch with dogs Walter McBride, Getty Images

Advertisement

35. She Lost Her Daughter

Tragically, Gabor actually outlived her only child. Francesca Hilton died on January 5th, 2015 at the age of 67 after suffering a massive stroke.

Advertisement

Even sadder, at this point Francesca had been living out of her car, having received almost nothing in her inheritance after her millionaire father Conrad Hilton died. As for Zsa Zsa’s reaction to the news? This is where it goes from tragic to heartbreaking.

American actress and photographer Francesca Hilton wearing white dressGeorge Stroud, Getty Images

Advertisement

36. Her Husband Kept Something Crucial From Her

Incredibly, Gabor’s ninth and final husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, didn’t tell Zsa Zsa about her daughter Francesca’s death. He claimed that since Gabor was in such a fragile physical and mental state, he feared the knowledge would destroy her.

Advertisement

She never did find out the truth; when the time came, Gabor died never knowing that her daughter was dead.

Zsa Zsa Gabor and daughter Ron Davis, Getty Images

Advertisement

37. She Had A Famous Habit

Gabor became famous during her lifetime for calling everyone “darling,” which her Hungarian accent turned into the drawling “dah-ling”. But there was a little-known reason for this.

Advertisement

Gabor wasn't just keeping up her elegant socialite persona. During one of her many TV interviews, she admitted that she called everyone “dah-ling” because it was much easier than actually remembering people’s names.

Zsa Zsa Gabor wearing spotted dressJami Russell, Flickr

Advertisement

38. She Knew How To Tell A Joke

Gabor was famous for her razor-sharp wit, penchant for one-liners, and self-deprecating humor.

Advertisement

On one occasion, when talking about her notorious love life, she quipped, “A girl must marry for love and keep on marrying until she finds it”. In a reference to her many divorces, she later joked, “I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house”!

Portrait of Zsa Zsa Gabor wearing a white dress and a coatkate gabrielle, Flickr

Advertisement

39. She Had A McMansion

In 1970, still wanting the best luxuries money could buy, Gabor bought a vast Bel-Air mansion done in the classic Hollywood Regency Style.

Advertisement

However, this was no run-of-the-mill mansion. Howard Hughes had originally constructed the building, and none other than Elvis Presley once lived in it. In short, it was a palace fit for Zsa Zsa.

Elvis Presley Publicity Photo For The Trouble With Girls 1968MGM, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

40. She Was An Original Real Housewife

Despite her film roles, Gabor’s most consistent career was in reality television and talk shows, leading many to hail her as the original Kardashian. Among the many TV personalities with whom Gabor interacted were Joan Rivers, Johnny Carson, and even Howard Stern, the original shock jock himself. We can only imagine Zsa Zsa approved.

Advertisement

Johnny Carson in black suit Keystone Features, Getty Images

Advertisement

41. She Turned Down A Major Role

Believe it or not, Gabor did sometimes say no. In 1949, producers offered her the chance to star in the film adaptation of the book Lady Chatterley's Lover, a novel infamous for several steamy and very explicit intimate scenes. Despite her obvious experience with men and her scandalous persona, Gabor refused to court controversy this one time and turned the role down.

Advertisement

Portrait of Zsa Zsa Gabor wearing a necklessNews release by Rogers & Cowan, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

42. She Almost Became A Superstar

Even though Zsa Zsa didn’t often star in films and generally just traded on her glamorous personality, things could have been much different. Gabor was one of the final choices to play the role of Miss Casswell in the 1950 classic All About Eve, but she lost out to Marilyn Monroe for the part. If you have to lose to someone, I guess it doesn't hurt to lose to Marilyn Monroe.

Advertisement

Marilyn Monroe in white dress Milton H. Greene, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

43. She Was A True Diva

In 1986, Gabor was going to make one of her frequent appearances on The New Hollywood Squares to lend the show her signature wit and charm. That night, though, producers had to delay the taping a lengthy 45 minutes. The emergency that caused the delay? The great Miss Gabor had broken her fingernail and needed the time to compose herself.

Advertisement

Legendary.

Zsa Zsa Gabor on tv showUnknown Author, Getty Images

Advertisement

44. She Was A Modern Royal Mistress

Today, Gabor has a reputation as a maneater—and that’s exactly what she was. She took inspiration for her bad bedroom deeds from an unusual source: royal mistresses of old. Gabor claimed she wanted to be “all the Pompadours and Du Barrys of history rolled into one”. Or, as she put it elsewhere, "Men have always liked me and I have always liked men”.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in front of a car Reg Lancaster, Getty Images

Advertisement

45. She Was A Polyglot

Say what you will about Gabor’s career or her romantic life, but she was an extremely formidable woman. In fact, she had a prodigious gift for languages.

Advertisement

Aside from her native Hungarian tongue, Gabor also spoke English, Italian, German, and French. Of course, these skills are also very useful when wining and dining with handsome, rich European men.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in pink and jewelsSilver Screen, Flickr

Advertisement

46. She Was Best At Playing Herself

Because her celebrity eventually eclipsed her acting career, Gabor frequently played herself in films or television shows rather than any fictional character.

Advertisement

Examples of this include The Beverly Hillbillies, The Naked Gun ½: The Smell of Fear, A Very Brady Sequel, and Smart Alec. Who needs fiction when you're Zsa Zsa freaking Gabor?

Zsa Zsa Gabor in pink dress Paramount, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

Advertisement

47. Her Name Has A Little-Known Origin

So where did Zsa Zsa get her iconic name from? We can't be sure, but in her feature film debut Lovely to Look at, Gabor plays a character named “Zsa Zsa”. The jury's out on whether she took her stage name from this character or vice versa.

Advertisement

 Zsa Zsa Gabor in black dress MGM, Lovely to Look At (1952)

Advertisement

48. She Died With A Whimper

On December 18, 2016, the ailing Zsa Zsa Gabor passed from cardiac arrest. Only, that’s not the whole story. The press reported her passing in mournful tones, but very few people knew the truth: Gabor was in a coma and on life support for a full five years before passing just 50 days away from her 100th birthday.

Advertisement

Still, once she did go, she went in style.

Zsa Zsa Gabor funeralJB Lacroix , Getty Images

Advertisement

49. She Had A Last Wish

Although von Anhalt buried Gabor’s ashes shortly after her passing in a Los Angeles cemetery, this wasn’t her final resting place. Before passing, Gabor said she wanted to move back to Hungary to live out her final days, but she never got the chance to do it.

Advertisement

So, five years later, in the summer of 2021, her surviving spouse von Anhalt came up with a genius send-off.

Zsa Zsa Gabor funeralpicture alliance, Getty Images

Advertisement

50. She Went Out With Style

Five years after her death, von Anhalt paid tribute to Gabor in the most Zsa Zsa way possible. He bought a first-class seat for most of Gabor’s ashes and flew them to Budapest. Only, a first-class seat wasn’t enough; Gabor also got all the luxuries. As von Anhalt said, “She was first class, she had her own seat and she had her passport, everything there. It was her last trip, she always used to go first class.

Advertisement

She had her Champagne, caviar”.

Zsa Zsa Gabor funeralGERGELY BESENYEI, Getty Images

Advertisement

51. Her Husband Tested Her

Just in case you thought that Gabor’s marriage to Conrad Hilton wasn’t icky enough, hold onto your hats for these next few facts. As it turns out, their relationship didn’t even start out well. When Gabor first met Hilton, Conrad might have been in lust with the voluptuous starlet, but he also had his suspicions about her interest in his money.

Advertisement

In response, he came up with a now-notorious test…

Studio portrait of the French actress Zsa Zsa GABOR between 1950 and 1955Keystone-France, Getty Images

Advertisement

52. She Got An Ultimatum

Since Hilton thought Gabor was only into him for his money, he took it upon himself one night to present his prospective bride with two jewelry boxes. In one box was a gaudy, absolutely massive ring fit for a queen.

Advertisement

In the other, however, was a smaller yet more tasteful piece of jewelry. Looking at them, Gabor made a split-second choice.

Zsa Zsa Gabor wearing big red hatIsabel Santos Pilot, Flickr

Advertisement

53. She Made The Smart Choice

Zsa Zsa Gabor may have been a gold digger, but she was a darn smart one. Instead of reaching for the ring she really wanted in the enormous diamond, she picked the smaller one she knew Hilton was hoping she would go for. With this test passed, Hilton went forward with his courtship of the socialite, for better or (as it happened) for worse.

Advertisement

conrad hilton portrait in white suitRandal Schwartz, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

54. She Revealed Her Darkest Secret

In 1991, Gabor released her autobiography, One Lifetime is Not Enough. As you might imagine, some of the claims in the book are incredibly scandalous, but one is the most harrowing revelation of all. In one chapter, Gabor confessed that she conceived her only daughter Francesca after Conrad Hilton forced himself on her during their marriage.

Advertisement

Then again, she got a perfect revenge.

Zsa Zsa Gabor in coatLos Angeles Daily News, CC BY 4.0 , Wikimedia Commons

Advertisement

55. She Slept With Her Stepson

Gabor still had time for scandal during her union with Conrad Hilton, and one day, she got back at him for all the pain he caused. In the same memoir, Gabor also claims that, while married to Hilton, she had an affair with his eldest son Nicky, who was not only her stepson at the time but was also nearly a decade younger than her.

Advertisement

 Zsa Zsa Gabor at restaurant Bruce Bailey, Getty Images

Advertisement

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13


More from Factinate

Featured Article

My mom never told me how her best friend died. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery.

Dark Family Secrets

Dark Family Secrets Exposed

Nothing stays hidden forever—and these dark family secrets are proof that when the truth comes out, it can range from devastating to utterly chilling.
April 8, 2020 Samantha Henman

Featured Article

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.

Madame de Pompadour Facts

Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.
December 7, 2018 Kyle Climans

More from Factinate

Featured Article

I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life.

These People Got Genius Revenges

When someone really pushes our buttons, we'd like to think that we'd hold our head high and turn the other cheek, but revenge is so, so sweet.
April 22, 2020 Scott Mazza

Featured Article

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history.

Catherine of Aragon Facts

Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but very few people know her even darker history.
June 7, 2018 Christine Tran



Dear reader,


Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? We’re always looking for your input! Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re interested in reading. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your time!


Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. We want our readers to trust us. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your help!


Warmest regards,



The Factinate team




Want to learn something new every day?

Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter.

Thank you!

Error, please try again.