There’s more to the late Hungarian-born socialite than her multiple husbands, diamonds, and sass. But we can’t forget her self-deprecating humor. She once said, “I’m a great housekeeper… Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house.” And the woman was married a total of nine times.
Gabor started captivating audiences as soon as she came to the US from war-ravaged Europe. She was in films like Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil and became a fixture of talk shows. Here are some highlights from Zsa Zsa Gabor’s life.
She Told Her Ex to Marry Her Sister
Gabor had her share of husbands and lovers (from a romance with the president of Turkey to an affair with her director). But one of the more shocking highlights of her love life was that she insisted that her third ex-husband, actor George Saunders, marry her sister Magda.
When Gabor heard that Saunders was looking for a wife, she thought her sister would be the perfect match for him. “Magda is rich. She is terribly lonely, and so are you,” Zsa Zsa told George. “You need each other, you can help each other.” They did indeed get married, but it only lasted six weeks.
Struggling with Her Mental Health
The actress suffered from bipolar disorder. At one point, her family sent her to a sanitarium, where she was given insulin shock treatments. Gabor described the treatments as a nightmare.
“I lived in a world of straitjackets, insulin shock treatments, endless injections — and always the real, terrifying realization that though I saw what went on and I knew and heard and understood the enormity of what was happening, no one would ever listen to me.”
Thankfully, Gabor is not remembered for her mental health, but rather her glamor and her “ooh la la”-ness.
