'I Was His Prisoner': Liza Minnelli Claims Ex David Gest Controlled Her Every Move as Icon Admits She 'Clearly Wasn't Sober' During Nightmare Marriage
Liza Minnelli and David Gest married in 2002.
Feb. 25 2026, Published 2:28 p.m. ET
Liza Minnelli shares chilling details about her marriage to late film producer David Gest in her new tell-all memoir, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Minnelli met Gest in 2001 and quickly became swept up in a dark and controlling relationship, and eventually, a bombshell divorce.
'I Clearly Wasn't Sober'
Liza Minnelli claimed she had 'zero' physical attraction to David Gest in her new memoir.
In her upcoming book, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, the Hollywood icon, 79 – who famously struggled with substance abuse issues for decades – claims she "clearly wasn't sober" when she married Gest.
Lured into a sense of security by his alleged love-bombing and promises to help make her the "biggest star in the world," Minnelli says she didn't realize that she was being "used" by him at the time.
"Suddenly I had the feeling that a true partnership with a successful guy, who seemed to be incredibly devoted to me, might be the answer to all my problems," she said in an excerpt seen by The Times.
"I felt no physical attraction to him. Zero," she adds of their rocky relationship. "But I convinced myself I could learn to love him, or at least love him through a lens of appreciation. Over time. Lots and lots and lots of time. I’d seen marriages work with far less. I’d been a divorced lady for 10 years and was lonely. So I fell for his lies and deceit. I should have called the cops."
'I Was His Prisoner'
Liza Minnelli wrote David Gest was very controlling throughout their relationship.
According to Minnelli, their 16 months together before she filed for divorce "felt like 16 years" as Gest became increasingly possessive and domineering.
"He didn't just control everything I ate, from morning to night. He controlled the people I saw and spoke to on the phone. He screened my calls," she writes in another excerpt of her memoir obtained by People. "In truth, I was his prisoner."
Following their marriage, she pens she was left feeling "betrayed, humiliated, ripped off and wounded."
Liza Minnelli's Many Love Affairs
Liza Minnelli was previously engaged to Desi Arnaz Jr.
But Gest wasn't her only wild romance. She's been married and divorced four times, she was engaged to Desi Arnaz Jr. – the son of I Love Lucy stars Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball – and she even carried on a love affair with critically acclaimed movie director Martin Scorsese.
Speaking about her relationship with the filmmaker, she quips it had "more layers than a lasagna."
"We were both Italian. Passionate. Intense. Committed to our craft. We both had volcanic tempers," she pens of Scorsese. "He was a diabolically handsome man who shared my love for film."
As for Arnaz, she says she reached out to him to apologize for the way she ended their engagement so many years ago, but he "stopped" her mid-apology.
"'Liza,' he said, 'All I remember is the love. Please let everything else go. I have,'" she recalls. "Talk about a gentleman."
Liza Minnelli's Ideal Man
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Liza Minnelli joked she'd like to date an 'elegant man' who is 'filthy rich.'
After decades of ups and downs in her career, love life, and her health, the 79-year-old thinks that she could still find love again some day.
"Ideally, I’d like to date an older elegant man who dresses beautifully and is filthy rich," she teases in the book. "Then I’d like to date a 40-year-old guy who is passionate about something. I don’t care what. Then I’d like to date an 18-year-old, who I see twice a week and whose name I don’t know."
Minnelli's book will be released on March 10.
