Zsa Zsa Gabor Battles Leg Amputation
Hollywood actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, 93, was hospitalized on Sunday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to undergo a surgery that would amputate part of her right leg due to gangrene. However, John Blanchette, her representative, says that her doctors have put off the plans for the amputation to see if antibiotics will turn things around.
Talking to reporters, the publicist explained that the doctors looked at a lesion on the actress’s leg that had grown to 12in long and got infected. Gabor delayed going to the hospital until after New Year’s, he noted, as she wanted to spend the holiday at home for her traditional celebration with caviar and champagne. At the time, he said that the doctors were going to have to amputate part of her leg, as she could die if they didn’t.
However, now Blanchette is saying that the doctors are going to treat Gabor with powerful antibiotics for a couple days, hoping that the lesion in her lower leg will begin to heal. However, he noted that the actress’s health is still precarious and that the lesion is very deep. If the antibiotics don’t work and she has to have the amputation, he added, she will lose the lower half of her right leg, below the knee.
Gabor, who was born in Hungary, rose to fame in the 1950s and 60s, after being crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She has starred in over 40 films, including Moulin Rouge in 1952 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in 1987. She has been married nine times, but her latest, longest-lasting marriage has been to Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, a German-born socialite, in August 1986. He has stayed at her side in the hospital.