Lugner with another of his hires, Pamela Anderson, at the 2003 gala. (Abaca)
For 19 years, oddball Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner has paid for nights with beautiful B-list bombshells.
He pays them about $150,000 and, in exchange, they sign autographs at one of his shopping malls and then accompany him to Austria’s premier social event, the Vienna Opera Ball.
The 77-year-old, four-times-divorced father of three gets a kick out of the attention — and sometimes outrage — that his buxom rent-a-dates stir up.
Over the years, he has squired Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, actresses Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch and Andie MacDowell, and burlesque performer Dita Von Teese.
But none have been so demanding as this year’s date — Lindsay Lohan.
Lohan, dubbed “the fallen Disney princess” by the Austrian media, accepted Lugner’s offer after his first choice, pneumatic British reality-TV star Jordan (a k a Katie Price), stole his thunder by announcing her selection to the tabloids before he could.
But Lohan had some issues.
“She wanted to change some of the dates,” Lugner told The Post.
Alas, the ultraposh Opera Ball, started in 1936, “can’t be moved.”
Then Lohan, 23, refused to pick a gown ahead of time and will wait until just before the Feb. 11 ball to pick “a European gown.”
Lugner won’t comment on whether he’s picking up the tab for that.
Finally, her handlers called. No champagne. No open bar. No alcohol of any kind must be allowed within Lindsay’s sight.
“Her managers have told us to make sure that she doesn’t drink during her trip,” Lugner said.
“We have made arrangements to pull all the liquor from the mini-bar in the hotel room where she’ll stay, and told room service they are not to deliver drinks to her.”
To make sure Lohan will be on her best behavior as 2,000 haute Viennese waltz the night away, “we will be drinking only mineral water that night to avoid any problems.”
Maybe Lugner should have gone with his other finalist, Lady Gaga.
More rubber, less trouble.
As part of the shillings-but-no-schnapps deal, Lohan will attend a press conference with Lugner the day before the ball. She’ll also sign autographs for a few hours in his massive mall, known as Lugner City.
She’ll go to the dance with Lugner, his current 20-year-old girlfriend, Anastasia Sokol, his 16-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, and the teen’s 25-year-old boyfriend, Helmut Werner.
“My daughter is the one who chose Lindsay, and she has picked for me in the last three years because she’s more in touch with who’s in the newspapers. Me, I’m a businessman, so I don’t know these things,” Lugner said.
Lugner, who reportedly once got his eyelids Botoxed so he could look more like George Clooney, is infamous in Austria for creating a media circus at the ball with his paid escorts — especially when his guest is willing to take a turn on the crowded dance floor during the celebrated “Alles Walzer.”
“Sometimes with my guest, dancing is impossible, because so many journalists want to talk to them,” the Austrian said.
“I recall, though, that Faye Dunaway and Grace Jones were great dancers. I was able to dance with them.”
Von Teese, who accompanied Lugner in 2008, said Lohan should demand extra bodyguards.
“I was trampled in a mob scene by the press. It was very frightening and also unfortunate that I couldn’t actually enjoy the beauty of the music and the dancing,” Von Teese told The Post.
“I’m quite good at these partner dances, and it made me sad that I wasn’t able to be on that beautiful dance floor.”
Lugner has attended the Opera Ball with a paid belle every year since 1991.
He started with classic companions like Loren, Welch and Dunaway — before devolving to the likes of Pamela Anderson, Nicollette Sheridan, Carmen Electra and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
In 1999, the founder of the glitzy Opera Ball, then-90-year-old Countess Christl Schoenfelt, said Lugner’s tawdry taste in dates had diminished the event’s prestige.
“These women are horrible,” she complained.
Other Lugner critics accuse the billionaire of bringing a “Lewinsky” factor to the ball.
In fact, to the horror of Vienna’s high society, Lugner twice invited American’s most famous White House intern to attend, but Monica declined.
Lugner is a self-made billionaire who got his start in the construction business, gradually expanding his wealth by building gas stations, and then Vienna’s first mega-mall.
His shrewd use of celebrity to promote his mall has become an eagerly anticipated rite in Vienna. Every year, hordes flood the multistory Lugner City hoping to get an autograph from his star of the season.
But that’s the only reason he invites the stars, Lugner says. Not even a peck on the cheek is included in the purchase price.
“I invite these famous stars for the clientele who come to my shopping center. It’s so they can get autographs. For me, it’s business, that’s all.”