Allegations of heartlessness and a dubious moral code have long been a feature of reporting on the late Zsa Zsa Gabor’s widower, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt.
The gossip columnist Cindy Adams—a longtime friend and biographer of Zsa Zsa’s late mother, Jolie Gabor—alleged in 2012 that von Anhalt had isolated his wife in her decaying Bel Air mansion, and prevented her from seeing or even talking to old friends or her late daughter, Francesca Hilton, who had to sue for visitation rights and access to her mother’s bank statements.
Now however, a ghoulish new claim is being made against von Anhalt, who was born Robert Hans Lichtenberg, but, in 1980, at age 36, was adopted by Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt, the daughter-in-law of German Emperor Wilhelm II. His name was then changed to “Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt,” though “Prinz” is not a part of his legal surname.
Page Six is alleging that he threw celebrity-studded parties for his elderly wife, who suffered a devastating car accident in 2002 and a massive stroke in 2005, with the goal of selling pictures to the tabloids.
The Post reported Tuesday that von Anhalt was hoping for a big payday by selling pictures to the tabloids of her 100th birthday bash–which would have been in February next year.
Von Anhalt, who once sued Viagra, claiming using the medication left him unable to have sex without taking it (he dropped the suit), has vigorously denied the allegations.
However, allegations of mercenary and opportunistic behavior have repeatedly dogged von Anhalt, who claimed (the day after she died) that he had been a secret lover of Anna Nicole Smith and once told Vanity Fair he had six wives prior to meeting Zsa Zsa, describing them as, “Just good-looking blond girls, all of them… Sometimes I had a feeling they wanted me to marry them because of the title, so they could become princesses. But as long as I had fun, who cares?”
According to Page Six, Shawn King described the ghoulish party to Gabor’s former publicist Edward Lozzi on Facebook the night Gabor died, writing, “Larry and I were invited to her ‘birthday party’ a few years ago. She was alone in her room. The house was filled with many strangers of questionable character dancing the night away. We were brought back to see Zsa Zsa. She was... in a hospital bed unable to communicate. That ‘husband’ of hers had her on display for us [and] only wanted a photo op for himself. We left quickly, feeling sad, shocked, sickened, and angry. Somehow the photo showed up in the tabloids. I was mortified.”
Shawn told Page Six, “It’s all true . . . She squeezed our hands and we sang ‘Happy Birthday.’ I felt incredibly sad.”
Anhalt told Page Six: “Those people are all full of shit. They should go on with life, if they have a life. My wife celebrated every event, huge... I did it the way she did it.”
He added that his wife knew the events were being photgraphed, adding, “We had cameras in all the rooms, and my wife saw every move we made. I made a deal with my wife... to be together forever. I was planning to have an event [on her 100th] for the whole world to see and read about. That’s what my wife wanted. Entertainment was the best medicine ever for her. She loved Hollywood with all of her heart. People are careless and they’re full of shit.”