Zsa Zsa Gabor Once Hit a Police Officer in What Was Known as the Slap Heard 'Round the World

In October 1989, actor and glamour queen Zsa Zsa Gabor went on Donahue where she discussed a legal kerfuffle she was in the middle of dealing with. When asked what was new, Gabor laughed and said, "Nobody beat me up today, yet. That's what's new." Some might be confused by the fact that Gabor was so amused by the idea of violence against her, but the story behind the interview involves far more comedy than tragedy.

Four months before her appearance on the popular daytime talk show, Gabor had been pulled over by a Beverly Hills police officer in what should have been a routine traffic stop. It quickly escalated to physical violence perpetrated by Gabor herself, though she claims the cop started. This incident would later be known as the "slap heard 'round the world," though it was undoubtedly unseated by Will Smith at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony. Here's what we know.

Gabor always had a flair for the dramatic, and this came into play on the day she smacked a Beverly Hills police officer. According to the Los Angeles Times, the former beauty queen was pulled over by Officer Paul Kramer who saw that her $215,000 Rolls-Royce had expired tags. While he was checking her car for other violations, Gabor simply drove off, causing Kramer to give chase.

After pulling her over again, Gabor suddenly slapped Kramer, who said the assault was unprovoked. She claimed Kramer roughly yanked her from the car, which resulted in the smack. During her trial, Gabor tossed out baseless accusations about Kramer, saying he had "multiple gay lovers." Gabor couldn't keep her story straight while on the stand and said videos taken of her after the arrest were altered to make her look more vulgar.

Both the judge and district attorney accused Gabor of using the trial to get publicity. "She has an unfortunate history of trying to turn everything into farce and to mock everything," said District Attorney Ira Reiner. In turn, Gabor said, "In Nazi Hungary, they were fairer than here. Here they don’t kill you. They kill you with words."

Gabor was sentenced to three days in jail and was ordered to "pay fines and retribution totaling $12,937, to perform 120 hours of community service — and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation," per the Los Angeles Times. Naturally, she was horrified by the outcome but had a silver lining kind of reaction to the jail time, telling the press she'd have time to write her book.