Liza Minnelli Opens Up About Feeling Like a “Prisoner” During Marriage to David Gest
Liza Minnelli has shared shocking details about her tumultuous marriage to David Gest, describing the union as both “traumatising and insane.”
The Cabaret, 79, who is the daughter of Judy Garland, married Gest in 2002. Their high-profile wedding featured Michael Jackson as best man and Elizabeth Taylor as maid of honour.
However, the marriage quickly turned toxic, and Liza separated from Gest after just one year. The divorce was finalized in 2007, following years of bitter lawsuits between the two.
In her forthcoming memoir, Minnelli describes feeling more like Gest’s prisoner than his wife.
She recounts incidents where his temper and controlling behavior left her humiliated and traumatized.
On one occasion, she says she was confronted after having lunch with friends, despite having told Gest she would share her whereabouts.
“I was legally his wife, in truth, I was his prisoner,” she writes. “Clearly, this insane marriage had to end, and soon.”
Liza also claims Gest exploited her financially. She says he threw an extravagant birthday party for her, only to charge the cost to her credit card and later return most of the gifts while keeping the money.
At the time she met Gest, Minnelli says she had been out of work for a year and was struggling financially.
She alleges Gest flaunted his celebrity connections and successes, promising to rescue her from destitution if she married him.
The relationship was marked by public disputes, including a 2003 lawsuit in which Gest accused Liza of hitting him with a stiletto during a drunken argument, claiming it left him with amnesia.
He also alleged she was “an alcoholic, overweight, unable to be effectively merchandised.” Liza countered by suing him for alleged theft, demanding $2 million.
Gest passed away in 2016 at age 62 from a stroke at the Four Seasons hotel in London, three months after appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.
Despite his death, Liza reportedly maintained her distance and declined to comment publicly at the time.
The pair’s final divorce in 2007 formally ended the long, complicated chapter of their lives, which had been marked by distance and conflict for most of their marriage.
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