Ex-film siren says her marriage was a sham
Gina Lollobrigida, the Italian film star once named the most beautiful woman in the world, says her former boy toy meant “zero” to her as a trial began into their marriage.
The 88-year-old actress has accused Javier Rigau, 34 years her junior, of conning her into marriage to lay claim to her $72-million estate. As Lollobrigida arrived Thursday for a court hearing in central Rome, wearing black high-heeled leather boots and large pearl earrings, she refused to acknowledge Rigau.
Lollobrigida, one of the highestprofile film stars of the 1950s and ’60s, claims the Spanish businessman staged a secret ceremony in Barcelona in 2010 in which he married a 72-year-old woman pretending to be her.
She claims she only discovered she was married three years later when she found legal documents on the Internet by chance.
Speaking outside court, Lollobrigida said her 20-year relationship with Rigau meant “zero” to her.
“It was never a proper relationship,” she said. “He was never very affectionate towards me. He kept his distance.”
Rigau, who appeared tanned and wore a shiny grey suit to the hearing, has been charged with fraud and forgery.
Lollobrigida will be asking for damages, but the amount has not yet been decided.
Fabrizio Siggia, her lawyer, has previously described his client as “angry and combative.” “She wants justice,” he said. The next hearing is due to take place in November, when Lollobrigida will give evidence. Siggia has said she will explain everything that happened during the marriage.
Rigau denies the charges and claims Lollobrigida was happy to consent to the marriage ceremony and willingly signed documents that allowed them to marry by proxy. Lollobrigida met Rigau at a Monte Carlo party in the 1980s. They were together more than 20 years and announced plans to marry in 2006. But she changed her mind and they split up a year later.
The actress, who lives in Monte Carlo, starred in many well-known films, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and played opposite Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, among others.