Gina Lollobrigida is a former Italian actress that rose to prominence in both American and
Italian film productions before retiring from acting and venturing into a career as a photojournalist.
Today, at the age of 94, Gina seems to be making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Whether it’s for her long-standing feud with fellow Golden Age sex symbol Sophia Loren
or the various lawsuits that she’s involved in, Gina can’t seem to find peace from the
tabloids in her old age!
Join Facts Verse as we take a look at Gina Lollobrigida.
Your jaw will drop when you see her today!
Gina Lollobrigida was born in Italy on July 4, 1927.
The young future star’s striking good looks became apparent from an early age, and she
would grow up to be considered one of the most beautiful women on the entire planet.
It was during Gina’s young adulthood that she decided that she wanted to pursue a career
as a model, and she found herself performing quite successfully in the profession before
long.
As is often the case, Gina’s success as a model led to her getting offers for film
roles, and she began appearing in Italian features by the time she was of age.
Although Gina Lollobrigida found quite a bit of success in her home country of Italy during
the early days of her career, her entry into American cinemas ended up being delayed as
a result of a contract dispute with Howard Hughes.
Howard had been the first American film executive to catch sight of Gina and subsequently swept
her up into a contract with his production studio.
The deal occurred while Gina was still living overseas, and she ended up deciding that she
didn’t like the terms of her contract with Howard before officially making the move to
Hollywood.
Because of this, Gina decided to wait out the contract in her home country while continuing
to film Italian features.
Gina Lollobrigida signed her contract with Howard Hughes in 1950, and the contract came
to an end in 1953.
Gina never ended up filming any pictures with Howard over the time period, with her refusing
the terms of her contract the entire time despite being technically bound to them.
In 1953, Gina was finally free from Howard’s grasp and found herself able to make her official
American debut.
The feature that first introduced the Italian starlet to mainstream American audiences was
a film by the name of Beat the Devil.
After making her debut in American cinemas, Gina Lollobrigida continued acting in both
American and Italian features over the course of the remaining 1950s, as well as the majority
of her remaining career as an actress.
One of the actress’s biggest critical successes came in 1961 when she received a Golden Globe
Award for her performance alongside actor Rock Hudson in the film Come September.
The film also featured Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, though no star was shown quite so bright
as Gina herself.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Gina wasn’t quite as big of a star as she had been before.
The Italian starlet made a successful segue into television, with her biggest success
coming thanks to her role in the series Falcon Crest.
Gina performed a five-episode stint on the series in 1984, and the role that she played
on it had originally been meant for Sophia Loren!
Gina and Sophia have had a long-standing feud since the early days of both of their careers.
As her acting career began becoming less lucrative than ever, Gina Lollobrigida decided that
it was time for a career change.
The actress had always had a passion for photography, and she decided that it was time for her to
explore that passion by becoming a photojournalist.
At first, Gina’s success in the arena of photojournalism came from her snapping pictures
of her former coworkers in the entertainment industry.
Gina became known as a celebrity photographer of note, but that didn’t satisfy her.
After a few years of making a living taking snapshots of her celebrity friends, Gina decided
to use her celebrity clout to secure an interview with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
In addition to the fact that she was a famous celebrity, Gina claims that she was able to
get on the dictator’s good side and secure the interview by telling him that it would
remain apolitical.
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After getting on the good side of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Gina Lollobrigida was able to
secure an extraordinarily in-depth interview with the controversial political figure.
The two spent 12 days together in Cuba, during which time Gina learned quite a bit about
the man.
This interview helped Gina make a name for herself as a photojournalist, whereas she
hadn’t been taken very seriously in the profession before.
Besides being known nowadays for her photojournalism, Gina also continues to pop up in headlines
in modern times thanks to various minor, though bizarre, controversies.
Though the actress has only officially been married once during her lifetime (depending
on who you ask), she has had many, many lovers, and a few of these lovers have turned against
her.
One lover that ended up turning against Gina was Javier Rigau y Rafols.
Recently, Javier allegedly tricked the venerated Italian starlet into marrying him so that
he could steal her money.
Gina is still battling Javier over the case of this supposedly fraudulent marriage, with
her having a hard time proving that the marriage was actually faked.
This supposedly fraudulent marriage occurred in 2015, with the help of an elderly stand-in
to take the place of Gina Lollobrigida, whom Javier claimed couldn’t be there physically
for one reason or another.
Though this may sound like sketchy business, it seems that Javier was able to trick Gina
into signing a contract that consented to the strange marriage, making it official.
For her part, Gina claims that she didn’t even know what language Javier was speaking
at the time, and she simply was doing whatever he wanted.
Gina also claims that the relationship between her and Javier never truly blossomed into
anything intimate, and she wasn’t aware of their supposed marriage until stumbling
upon the documents by chance and becoming incredibly angry.
Sadly, the ongoing legal battle with her supposed fake husband isn’t the only ongoing legal
battle plaguing the elderly Gina Lollobrigida, and she inches close and closer to her tenth
decade of living.
There’s also the matter of the star being sued by her own son, whom she shares with
her first and only (official) husband, Milko Skofic.
That son takes his father’s name, and it appears that Gina has been estranged from
both of them for quite some time.
Gina and Milko were married from 1949 to 1971, and Gina has apparently been estranged from
Milko Skofic Jr. for years.
The reason Milko Skofic Jr. is suing his mother is because he feels that the elderly actress
is being taken advantage of by her personal assistant.
This personal assistant is a man by the name of Andrea Piazzolla, and he started out as
Gino’s personal driver before slowly gaining the actress’s trust.
Now, Andrea’s entire family lives with Gina and he functions not only as her personal
assistant but seemingly as the manager of her entire estate.
It appears that Andrea takes funds from Gina to buy gifts for himself at his leisure.
Milko Skofic Jr. has successfully managed to have his mother’s largest assets frozen
until the authorities can figure out whether or not Andrea is being taken advantage of
by the aging Italian starlet, In the meantime, 94-year-old Gina is publicly crying out for
the authorities to simply let the aging actress be during what will likely turn out to be
the final years of her life.
Gina says that she is fully aware of the funds that Andrea has taken and that their close,
the personal relationship has come as a result of her own wishes.
It seems that Andrea has become somewhat of a surrogate son for Gina in the wake of Milko
Skofic Jr.’s estrangement, which is perhaps why Milko is so angry!
While Milko Skofic Jr. may have a point that Andrea doesn’t truly have his mother’s
best wishes at heart, it’s hard to deny that the estranged son is likely only concerned
about the matter due to the money.
Gina’s various legal battles are still ongoing, and so is the actress’s feud with fellow
Golden Age Italian starlet Sophia Loren!
Gina still claims to be the better of the two Italian starlets, not only because she’s
the eldest but because she got her start in the industry much more independently.
Sophia is now 87 years old, and the two stars are some of the last remaining remnants of
Old Hollywood sexuality.
Despite her numerous controversies, there are still things that Gina Lollobrigida does
to keep the public on her side.
The actress had been known for her exuberant jewelry collection, but she ended up selling
this massive collection for charity in 2015.
The collection sold for $5 million, and the profits from the sale furthered stem cell
research.
A few years later, in 2018, the then-90-year-old Italian starlet was given her very own star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Looking at Gina Lollobrigida now, it’s hard to believe that the 94-year-old former Italian
starlet was once considered to be one of the most beautiful women on the entire planet!
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren’s
longstanding feud is still going on to this day and that Gina is currently involved in
two similarly ongoing legal battles?
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