LOS ANGELES - Hollywood star Zsa Zsa Gabor has agreed to settle a lawsuit over a devastating car crash that left the 88-year-old diva partially paralyzed, for two million dollars, her lawyer said Friday.
Gabor settled the suit she brought against her former hair stylist, Jaren Millard, who was driving the car when it careened into a telegraph poll on Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip in November 2002.
"The accident was a devastating blow to a vital and beautiful woman," sai Gabor's lawyer Ronald Jason Palmieri, who had sought damages for Gabor's medical expenses and compensation for pain and suffering.
"The amount of the settlement only reflects Ms. Gabor's desire to end this matter in a private manner and not a public forum," he said.
"There is no amount of money that will ever compensate her for what she has suffered," he added.
Gabor was knocked unconscious and severely injured in the crash and spent months convalescing in hospital before returning home, he said.
The former movie star and Miss Hungary is now partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, the lawyer said.
Millard's attorney, Paul Philips, could not immediately be reached for comment on the announcement that came just day's ahead of Monday's scheduled start of a civil trial in the case.
Gabor and her husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, sued Millard in Los Angeles Superior Court on November 19, 2003. Von Anhalt also sought damages for the loss of companionship of his wife due to her injuries.
Palmieri said 1.75 million dollars of the settlement money will go to Gabor and 250,000 dollars to the German-born prince.
Gabor was chosen Miss Hungary in 1936 before coming to seek fame in Hollywood accompanied by her actress sisters, Eva and Magda, who have both since died.
She had roles in scores of films and television series dating back to the original 1951 John Huston version of "Moulin Rouge" and a small part in Orson Welles' classic "Touch of Evil" in 1958.
But over the years she has become better known for her nine marriages to rich men -- including hotel baron Conrad Hilton and the late actor George Sanders -- and her penchant for furs and jewels.
One of her marriages, number eight, was annulled after just one day when it emerged that her divorce from her seventh husband was not yet final.
She has also shown a sharp temper on occasion. In 1989, she slapped a Beverly Hills policeman who pulled her over for a traffic violation.
She served one night in jail for the offence and was sentenced to 120 hours of community service.
03/05/2005 01:38 GMT