Liza Minnelli Affair Bombshell: Icon Claims She Had Cocaine-Fueled Romance With Martin Scorsese — 'We Couldn't Get Enough of Each Other'
Liza Minnelli described her affair with Martin Scorsese for the first time.
March 10 2026, Published 7:50 p.m. ET
Liza Minnelli has revealed a major bombshell about her love life in her new memoir, sharing for the first time that she had a drug-fueled affair with legendary director Martin Scorsese, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Cabaret star, 79, wrote about their "self-destructive obsession" while filming the 1977 romantic musical New York, New York, when both were married to other people.
Liza Minnelli Reveals Her Martin Scorsese Affair for the First Time
Minnelli was married to second husband Jack Haley Jr. when she began her affair with Scorsese.
In Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, Minnelli described how she was married at the time to Jack Haley Jr., and the pair ran into Scorsese while out and about in Greenwich Village.
She claimed the Raging Bull director became a raging lunatic, calling her out for not only sleeping with him but with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov at the same time.
Minnelli said Scorsese screamed at her, "How can you do this to me?"
In the book, the Liza With a Z legend says she did, in fact, bed the Russian hunk, who many fans today got to know as Carrie Bradshaw's lover, Aleksandr Petrovsky, on Sex and the City.
Liza Minnelli and Martin Scorsese's Passion Became a 'Powerful Hypnotic Drug'
Minnelli and Scorsese's torrid affair lasted long after production on their film ended.
Minnelli claimed her illicit romance with Scorsese had "more layers than a lasagne."
The pair "couldn’t get enough of each other,” and the affair was "the worst-kept secret on set."
She blamed it on "amour fou. The French term for a passionate relationship that becomes a self-destructive obsession … The relationship becomes a powerful hypnotic drug in every way.”
Not only was the romance a drug, but so were the narcotics the pair took as they filmed the musical together.
“As we filmed, Marty became a heavier and heavier user of cocaine. It seemed that it was no longer recreational for either of us. It was day and night. On the set, in between takes, and when we went out in the evening," Minnelli describes in her memoir.
"We were constant companions, and I was right there beside him. Line by line, Marty claimed the drug helped his creative juices. Sure it did. Or is that just one more fabulous lie you tell yourself when you’re in the grip of substance use?"
Minnelli cheated on second husband Haley Jr. with Scorsese.
Minnelli married director/producer Haley Jr. in September 1974, less than three years before her affair with Scorsese began. The duo divorced in April 1979.
Scorsese married Julia Cameron in 1976, and they divorced a year later, shortly after New York, New York wrapped production.
Despite their brief time together, Scorsese and Cameron welcomed a daughter, Domenica, in September 1976.
“We were on a runaway train. Nothing good could come of it," Minnelli writes about her affair with the Goodfellas director.
The Romance Was 'Deeply Compelling at the Time'
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Minnelli said her affair with Scorsese continued even after their film was a box office bomb.
New York, New York went $5million over budget and dragged on, past its planned 14-week production schedule, to 22 weeks.
The box office was just as doomed, as Minnelli writes, "it did not live up to expectations," following its release.
The duo's affair continued after the movie was released, and Minnelli was insistent that her lover direct her next Broadway project, The Act, despite limited live theater experience.
The Tony Award winner saw an immediate "red flag" when the movie director demanded his own theater dressing room, and she knew he wouldn't last on the job.
"It damn near killed me and broke my heart," she wrote about having to fire Scorsese.
"Once the fire was lit, it burnt us all," Minnelli said of her illicit romance with the auteur. “[However,] I’m not here to judge or apologize, because it was deeply compelling at the time."
While the toxic romance eventually ended, bad feelings lingered for decades.
"Years later, I saw Marty at the Oscars ceremony in 2014 and walked up to say hello. Unfortunately, he turned away from me. Very sad," Minnelli shared.
