It's funny how things turn out. Just two months ago, I did not even know the name Francesca Hilton. As the daughter of hotel mogul, Conrad Hilton and Hungarian born bomb shell, Zsa Zsa Gabor, she was indeed Hollywood Royalty, but she wasn't really famous in any glamorous Hollywood sense of the word.
She did make headlines when she tried to claim what was probably rightfully hers, like part of her father's vast estate.
When Conrad Hilton died, he left her just $100,000 and the rest of his estate -- estimated at about $200 million a the time of his death -- to his foundation. She made headlines again when she publicly and legally disputed with her mother's seventh husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, over Gabor's care and estate. According to Forbes, they settled out of court.
This indeed is a very sad, sad story. And I feel even more sad about it, because on November 8, 2014, I actually had the distinct pleasure of meeting Francesca Hilton. Turns out, Hilton was a dear and long time friend of Days of our Lives star, Peggy McCay (Caroline). Hilton was McCay's guest at the Day of Days event at Universal City Walk on November 8. She sat at our table and chatted with me and Soapdom's Mark Edward Wilows, about being the daughter of Zsa Zsa Gabor. She talked of her friendship with McCay and even said she'd love to get a role on Days of our Lives. I think she came to the event to lobby the producers in that very regard! Wonder if she made any headway?
And then —just six weeks later, she was dead in West Hollywood. The initial cause of death was stroke/heart attack, but her mother's husband, the Prince, wanted to rule out suicide as he claimed she'd been very distraught the last few weeks. According to Hilton's publicist, Edward Lozzi, Prince von Anhalt was the cause of Hilton's stress.
Although we cannot confirm this, both Radar Online and Forbes is reporting that Ms. Hilton spent the last few weeks of her life living out of her car, a Toyota Forerunner, as she could not scrape up enough money to pay her weekly rent at a rather questionable establishment some might call a flop house. She was probably safer in her car.
So very sad that her father amassed all this wealth, and her mother's estate is in the millions as well, but as Gabor at 97 is completely bed ridden and cannot speak, her affairs are totally handled by van Anhalt.
Upon meeting Ms. Hilton, my first impressions were that she was most likely "a party girl," that she had seen and done much in her time. Her face was wrinkled and worn, but her eyes sparkled. They twinkled with mischief, you just knew that she was sizing you up and giggling inside at what havoc she could muster just to shock you. But deep in her eyes I could also see a sadness. It didn't appear to me that she was at all happy no matter how much she chattered on cheerfully about this and that.
Her mother's husband has attempted to claim Hilton's remains and put her to rest, but just last Friday night, the LA County Coroner's office met von Anhalt at Cedar Sinai Medical Center morgue and prevented him from claiming the body. Her wealthy Hilton brothers are nowhere to be found apparently and have not attempted to put her to rest, although Forbes has just reported that allegedly one of her half brothers, Stephen, will step forward and claim the body "so that Francesca's friends can lay her to rest in the manner they believe she would have wanted."
Francesca Hilton passed away January 6, 2015. She was 67.
Talk about a real life soap opera. I can only say that it was a delight to have the pleasure to meet Francesca Hilton, and that I hope she finds the happiness that she did not attain in this world in the next. RIP, Francesca. May God be with you.
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