Richard Lugner, the 77-year-old Austrian entrepreneur who pays a different celeb each year to be his arm candy at Vienna’s Opera Ball, says Lindsay Lohan wouldn’t be taking her place beside him at the gala. Lugner—who will bring hunky German singer Dieter Bohlen in her stead—accused the starlet of missing her scheduled flight due to a shopping spree in LA and not being able to afford the late fees. “She’s a nutcase,” he said last week after complaining about alleged demands like a private jet with a bed and promises of no alcohol in her eyeline. Lohan, whose last personal tweet was a cryptic “away we gooooo!!!!” late Thursday night, has yet to comment.
As suggested by her replacement’s lack of female anatomy, escorting Lugner doesn’t quite have the same connotations as escorting, say, Hugh Hefner. The tycoon—who already has a young girlfriend named Bambi, thanks—started his annual tradition with Harry Belafonte in 1992. A bevvy of older lovelies like Ivana Trump and Raquel Welch followed, but Lugner’s aimed younger starlets earlier this decade, with recent opera companions including Paris Hilton, Dita Von Teese and Geri Halliwell. Take a look at his wild life—and Bambi!—in the gallery below.
[Photos: Getty Images]
