Hairy Elke to get a fat cheque from Zsa Zsa

LOS ANGELES - It will be the hardest cheque that Zsa Zsa Gabor and her eighth husband, Frederick von Anhalt, have ever had to write. Please pay dollars 2m (pounds 1.3m) to the actress Elke Sommer - the woman who accused Gabor of having such a fat bottom that 'she cannot even get on a horse by herself'. Worse, the sum could rise, writes Phil Reeves. Last night a Los Angeles jury was meeting to decide whether Gabor and her spouse, a self-styled Bavarian baron, should pay punitive damages for libelling the actress.

The dispute began when Sommer suggested Gabor - Miss Hungary 1936 - possessed a rump of such proportions that she has to be lifted on to a horse. According to Sommer's lawyer, the remark saw the start of a six-year grudge that came to a head when the couple sought revenge in the German press. Gabor (estimated age: 73) told a magazine that the fortunes of Sommer (estimated age: 52) had taken such a downturn that nowadays she hangs out in sleazy bars and supports herself by knitting sweaters.

The baron later said Sommer looked a century old and had lost most of her blonde hair. As Sommer has plenty of hair and a house with a pool and tennis court, the jury agreed she had suffered 'mortification and hurt feelings'.