07. 02. 12. - 16:00

007 health worries Lugner

Richard Lugner has expressed concerns about Sir Roger Moore’s health.

The movie star is set to attend this year’s Vienna Opera Ball alongside the Viennese businessman. Lugner managed to claim most of the public attention at the most of the past editions of the bash by inviting international celebrities – despite the attendance of Europe’s political and economic elite.

Now the entrepreneur, who owns Vienna’s Lugner City mall, claimed that organisers of the ball were posing "unreasonable demands". Lugner’s feud with promoters of the event is set to continue as they once more kept him from booking a first-floor box. Instead, Lugner and his entourage will follow the opening from a box situated on the opera’s second floor.

"That’s asking a bit much," Lugner fumed today (Tues). He explained: "Roger Moore is currently physically handicapped. He recently underwent knee surgery. He is depending on a walking stick. How is he supposed to make it to the second floor like that?"

This year’s Opera Ball will take place on 16 February. Lugner – who was accompanied by actress Carmen Electra and it girl Paris Hilton at previous editions of the glamorous event – will not only have the "James Bond" star by his side. Danish model and actress Brigitte Nielsen also accepted his invitation.

Lugner wanted Nielsen – who won the latest edition of German TV station RTL’s version of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!" (Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!) – to wear a dress made of chocolate at the Viennese Opera Ball. Now he admitted that this endeavour was scrapped as it would have featured unpredictable complications. Lugner, who has been married four times, said a seamstress would have followed Nielsen all night to avoid any kind of unfortunate incidents caused by the risque outfit. "Brigitte could not sit down wearing the dress so we were forced to pull the plug," Lugner told Austrian papers.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz and model Helena Christensen are also expected to attend the Vienna Opera Ball 2012. National television station ORF will broadcast its opening live. The channel’s team of reports will also hold live red carpet interviews ahead of the festive occasion.

ATV, ORF’s key private rival, is hoping for good market shares with another special edition of "Die Lugners". The Vienna-based broadcaster has portrayed Lugner’s personal ups and downs for some years. The annual Opera Ball episodes of the programme have been extraordinarily successful as they offered insights into the businessman’s chaotic preparations.

Lugner started inviting stars to the ball in the early 1990s. He was accompanied by erotic dancer Karima El Mahrough – better known by her stage name Ruby the Heartbreaker – and German pop star casting juror Dieter Bohlen in recent years. Dita Von Teese, Andie MacDowell and Sophia Loren are other previous guests of the spotlight-seeking shopping centre manager.