In her brilliant and bonkers new book released on her 80th birthday Liza discusses her love life and career including that short-lived marriage to David Gest
She is one of a handful of stars to have also won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. And Liza Minnelli has used the final pages of her memoir to hit back at critics who think she is nearing the end – insisting she is “very much alive and kicking” with plans for singing and acting work still to come. The actress and singer releases her memoir today as she turns 80, but millions around the world last saw her handing out an Oscar from a wheelchair in 2022 and looking frail and flustered alongside Lady Gaga.
However, she insists last minute changes caused many of the problems on that night and she is feeling good now and has light sessions of dance rehearsal and weekly physical therapy conducted by her choreographer, BP Major. “After eight decades in the spotlight, I can honestly say I have found sweet peace,” she says.
Going into more detail, she writes “In recent years, many people have worried about me because I wasn’t performing much…The fact is, I’m very much alive and kicking— even if those Fosse kicks aren’t as high as they used to be. I feel like the same old Liza. Just don’t make me bend down to pick up anything.”
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She added: “During the past few years I have performed occasionally. I’ve performed at fundraisers in New York and an event hosted by Dolce & Gabbana. I lead a busy life. It just looks different from the outside, because so much of the work I do now is not onstage.
“I participated in a widely seen documentary about my career, Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, which premiered at Bobby De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival. I’m recording again and reading scripts to make a feature film. We’ll see what happens.”
Liza also said although she often appears in public now sitting on a Director’s chair, as she did in January at an awards bash, she can walk short distances and no longer worries about comments regarding her weight or looks.
She said: “Another plus of living a long life? I’m too tired to give a damn about things that used to torment me. I used to worry constantly about my weight. People said I was fat. I’ve slimmed down. I feel great in my clothes. Now, those same wagging tongues whisper that I’m wasting away. You just can’t win! Through it all, I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’m old. It’s a blessing. Not “aging”— old! I embrace the word, because every life doesn’t receive that gift. Yes, I feel the frustration of having the soul and psyche of a young dancer in an older, banged- up body. But I still fight like hell. I’m using what I got. I’m still here! I’ve made my peace with Liza 2026. I’ve come to accept a new reality at this stage of my life.”
In other sections of the book which have already been serialised she described the heartbreaking details of being brought up by troubled superstar mother Judy Garland, who later died in London at the age of 47 of what was described as a “incautious self-overdosage”.
Liza writes: “I cried for eight straight days.” A doctor then prescribed her with valium ahead of the funeral but that backfired as a “one-day blessing turned into a habit, then a full-blown case of addiction” and Liza inherited something she could have done without from her mother.
But she overcame the difficulties to become a superstar herself on stage and screen. She has been married and divorced four times and won an Academy Award for Cabaret (1972), four Tony Awards, two Golden Globes, a Grammy Legend Award, and an Emmy.
The book also describes Liza’s incredible series of romances, including details of the time she walked in on her first husband Peter Allen having sex in their marital bed with a man.
She told how she struggled to process what she’d seen and felt “fragile and afraid” after what happened. However after Liza’s forgiveness they remained happily married for another seven years.
Much later in her life she would marry David Gest in 2002 with Michael Jackson as Gest’s best man. The celeb-filled ceremony, which also featured Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor, was almost as odd as the relationship. But looking back Liza says she knew it wasn’t going to work the moment he French kissed her oddly for the cameras on their wedding day “like a shark mangling a piece of meat”.
She adds: ”That appalling kiss went on forever. I was bent over in his arms, and we looked absurd in a video flashed around the world. Actually, David kissed me too soon, before he was supposed to, so I had to endure two long kisses. I was shocked and felt degraded. This marriage was over before it even began, for one simple reason. In manhandling me, Gest put on a limp display of masculinity and testosterone. It was grotesque.”
Liza admits she was charmed by him and his claims he could make her a star again and get her out of some financial problems.
But she also writes: “What in god’s name was I thinking?”
And recalling the time they were together before splitting adds: “Sixteen months may sound like a short time to you. Honey, it felt like sixteen years. I was disgusted with him. I felt betrayed, humiliated, ripped off , and wounded. Unlike my earlier marriages, where I had a genuine love for my husbands that endured after we split, this one ended in a nasty, brutal divorce. He was hideous. So let me ask again: What the hell was I thinking?”
By the time she reached 2015 her own life was in trouble and easily similar to her mother’s later years, with financial debts and alcohol and drug problems. She headed into rehab in Malibu and this time, unlike previous attempts, took it seriously.
She says: “I had made a private promise to myself— a vow unlike anything I had said before. This time it was for real. Because it had to be, damn it. After years of one step forward, two steps back, I had to get sober. I was older. My body had taken a battering from encephalitis, ulcers, and God knows how many spine, knee, back, and hip surgeries. Not to mention the psychic, physical, emotional, and financial damage caused by David Gest. I needed to find my way home to a better, healthier life.
“The truth is that I didn’t check into this beautiful new-wave rehab place in 2015 to put a Band-Aid on a crisis, as I had so many times before. I wanted to live clean more than use. And miracle of miracles— I’m happy to tell you that I’ve been sober now for eleven years.”
Amongst her acknowledgements and thanks at the back of the book is one unusual one – for her doctor she has been using since leaving rehab in 2015. He cut down on her medication and stopped her self-prescribing things.
She says: “Dr. Lawrence D. Piro and my incredible healthcare team at the Angeles Clinic and Research Institute— West Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai. You wanna live to get old? Get yourself a good doctor! I’ve got a great one.”
Ever the show woman, she ends the book writing: “I’ll see you at the Cabaret, old chum. All my love, Liza.”
* Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! Is out today (March 10) published by Hodder & Stoughton.
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