Gina Lollobrigida passed away on January 16, 2023. The actress was 95 at the time of her death. One of the veterans from the Golden age of Hollywood, Lollobrigida was a high-profile European actress who had starred against the most prolific actors of the time like Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Yul Brynner. 

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Lollobrigida established herself as a photojournalist when her appearances in film started fading away. 

She has been an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, including  the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). She ended up receiving the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation’s Anniversary Gala in 2008. 

Lollobrigida was also in news for the notorious legal case against her ex boyfriend Javier Rigau y Rafols, accusing him of faking the marriage between them. 

Who is Javier Rigau y Rafols?

Javier Rigau y Rafols is a Spanish Businessman who got briefly married to actress Gina Lollobrigida before a string of legal drama that unfurled later. The two signed a prenuptial agreement and married in Spain in 2006.

But in January of 2013, Lollobrigida started legal action against Rigau, stating that her ex-boyfriend had staged a ceremony in secret where he “married” an imposter pretending to be Lollobrigida at a registry office in Barcelona. She accused Rigau of intending to lay claim on her estate after she passes away. Accusing Rigau of fraud, she claimed that he had earlier obtained the legal right to act on her behalf with a power of attorney, and was plotting to gain extra power. 

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 “A while ago he convinced me to give him my power of attorney. He needed it for some legal affairs. But instead I fear that he took advantage of the fact that I don’t understand Spanish … Who knows what he had me sign,” Lollobrigida said. 

She ended up losing the case, with the court calling them baseless, though she said that she would appeal, as obvious. 

“We respect the sentence but it is obvious we will appeal,” said she when the verdict was announced on March 24, 2017.