When It Comes To Patrizia Reggiani, I Have Three Words: Pet Prison Ferret

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When It Comes To Patrizia Reggiani, I Have Three Words: Pet Prison Ferret

I'd like to think that there's nothing Lady Gaga can do to surprise me anymore, but even I have to admit when I'm wrong. Based on the new trailer for House of Gucci, Lady Gaga's performance as Patrizia Reggiani is definitely going to leave me dead of shock and awe.

Beyond the fact that the singer of "Paparazzi" is speaking in an over-the-top and yet perfectly appropriate Italian accent in perfectly coordinated outfits, there's just something about Lady Gaga playing a real person that I find fascinating. But, just because she exists doesn't mean that the real Patrizia Reggiani isn't just as outlandish as one of Gaga's many musical personas, and these facts about the real Patrizia Reggiani (not to be confused with Patricia Gucci, an actual Gucci heiress) prove it.

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Patrizia Becomes Lady Gucci

Patrizia married Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver in the film) in 1972 when they were both in their mid-twenties, and soon the socialite and Gucci heir became a glamorous, high-profile celebrity couple. Maurizio, who inherited 50% of the Gucci company, became CEO, the duo welcomed two daughters, and they were known for flying around the world to stay at their many extravagant properties. They were even friends with the Kennedys. Their jet-setting lifestyle and elite status earned her the nickname "Lady Gucci," though she would later be known as the Black Widow. They eventually split in the '80s.

Yes, She Really Conspired To Kill Her Ex Husband

Image: MGM/YouTube

Patrizia didn't actually pull the trigger, but, as the new trailer shows, she did hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband, Gucci heir and then-CEO Maurizio, in 1995. Though people speculated that she was involved in his death, she and four accomplices were only arrested and tried a few years later, in 1997. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and was released in 2016 after serving 18.

She Did It For Gucci

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When Gaga as Patrizia declares that "Gucci" is her name too, she means it. According to multiple reports, Patrizia decided to hire someone to kill her husband after he sold his shares of Gucci outside the family, which she felt was a threat to her own status and legacy. "I was angry with Maurizio about many, many things at that time," Reggiani said in a rare interview with The Guardian. "But above all, this. Losing the family business. It was stupid. It was a failure. I was filled with rage, but there was nothing I could do."

Patrizia's accomplice, Pina Auriemma reportedly said that the woman known as Lady Gucci was also fixated on killing Maurizio before he remarried and gave another woman his name. And it was also believed that she feared Maurizio's new marriage would threaten their two daughters' inheritance. Per The Guardian, prior to his death, she sent her estranged husband threatening messages calling him a "monster" and accusing him of neglecting their children.

She Had A Pet Ferret In Prison

While serving her sentence, Patrizia passed the time by "[taking] care of my plants" and "looking after Bambi, my pet ferret." Though incarcerated people in Italy don't generally have access to pets, Patrizia's lawyer was able to get her special access to a ferret. According to Patrizia, Bambi died after a fellow inmate accidentally sat on him. I can only pray that this is in the movie.

She Chose To Stay In Prison So She Wouldn't Have To Work

Patrizia is somewhat known for her flippant attitude, like in 2011, when she turned down parole because it would have required her to get a job. "I've never worked in my life, and I don't intend to start now," she told the court, per Vanity Fair. Three years later, she changed her tune, and got a job as a "design consultant" for an Italian jewelry company called Bozart.

She's "Annoyed" At Lady Gaga Playing Her

Patrizia, now 72, is currently living in Italy, and she seems to have zero plans to see House of Gucci. "I'm annoyed by the fact that Lady Gaga is portraying me in the new Ridley Scott film without even having the courtesy or the good sense to come and meet me," she told an Ansa, an Italian news source, per People. Patrizia continued, saying that she "won't be taking a single cent from the film" (though it's unclear if they offered) and that she felt it was a matter of "common sense and respect."

House of Gucci will be released in theaters on Thanksgiving.

Image: MGM/YouTube

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