{"id":385266,"date":"2026-03-14T18:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/385266\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T18:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:55:11","slug":"liza-minnellis-memoir-6-things-we-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/385266\/","title":{"rendered":"Liza Minnelli’s Memoir: 6 Things We Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLiza Minnelli <\/a>has heard your jokes. Born 80 years ago to two of Hollywood\u2019s biggest names \u2014 the actor and singer Judy Garland and director Vincent Minnelli \u2014 she was thrust iinto the spotlight from the moment she left Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. But since her teenage years she\u2019s forged her own path. First as a cabaret singer and Broadway star, and then, of course, asthe Oscar-winning star of the Broadway show-turned-movie Cabaret, she became one of musical theater\u2019s most powerful stars. She\u2019s put out both pop and standards albums and sold out more shows at Carnegie Hall than most artists could dream of. Then, after she hit 60, when many stars would be fading into the background, she captured an entire new generation with her role as Lucille Two on Arrested Development.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout it all, the jokes have abounded. There were jokes about the sexuality of her four husbands. Jokes about her addictions, and her struggles to stay sober. Jokes about her standing within the LGBTQ community, and the countless drag impersonators who take up her likeness. Jokes about her looks, her hair, her homes. But Liza Minnelli<\/a> is going to have the last laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her new book<\/a>, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This One! the singer, dancer, and, as she writes, \u201coriginal nepo baby\u201d comes fully and brilliantly clean. With the help of her dear friend (and onetime lover, according to the book) Michael Feinstein, she lays her life out on the page, bunions and all, from her childhood in Golden Age Hollywood, through her very debaucherous 1970s, though her tormented final marriage to a man she describes as an abuser and a con man. <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter all these years, Liza is still kicking. Here\u2019s six stand-out moments \u2014\u00a0but it just scratches the surface of this life well lived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Hacc<\/p>\n

\t\t1. She spent her childhood taking care of her mom\u2019s emotions<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tJudy Garland had been raised on the MGM lot, starring in films like The Wizard of Oz when she was a teenager the studio fed her various substances to pep her up, put her down, and keep her in line. By the time she had Liza at age 23, she was fully hooked on drugs. \u201cThe constant ups and downs had an impact on me,\u201d she writes. \u201cYou never knew which Mama was going to come out of that bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli writes about the night before her fifth birthday when, dressed in a Hopalong Cassidy outfit and joking with her parents in their living room, she accidentally kicked her mom in the head with her cowboy boot. The air in the room changed immediately, terrifying little Liza. \u201cSuddenly she was screaming at me. She screamed and screamed, and it seemed as if the yelling went on for hours,\u201d she writes. This was an accident! Didn\u2019t she understand?\u201d She eventually apologized, bursting into tears. \u201cI was so confused. Should I be taking care of her? Or should she be taking care of me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe incident stuck with her, and she brings it up repeatedly throughout her memoir<\/a>. The sound of screaming, of audible anger, will bring her back to that moment and make her feel like the helpless little girl again, tasked with managing her mother\u2019s emotions.<\/p>\n

\t\t2. Her engagement to Peter Sellers was a nightmare<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli has had her share of marriages, boyfriends, and steamy affairs. Her first husband was Peter Allen, but she\u2019d found out he was gay a few years into their marriage \u2014by walking in on him in their bed with another man. And though they\u2019d tried to make it work, they eventually drifted apart. After they separated, she got engaged to her childhood friend, Desi Arnaz, Jr. \u2014 Lucy\u2019s son. But while visiting London in 1973, she ran into an old acquaintance, Pink Panther star Peter Sellers, and a potent mix of champagne and chemistry changed her course. Days later, they held a press conference to announce their engagement. \u201cIf this is confusing to you, how the hell do you think I felt!?\u201d she writes. \u201cI was married to a gay man at the same time I was engaged to two other men!\u201d Arnaz found out in the papers, and was \u201cunderstandably furious,\u201d she writes, noting that the two eventually made up, at least enough to \u201cshare a warm bond today, more than half a century later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tBut life with Sellers wasn\u2019t what she imagined. \u201cHere\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d she writes. \u201cThe brilliant comedy that poured out of Peter, his ability to play so many different fictional characters at once, became the real-life problem that tore us apart\u2026. He would scold me, taunt me, bully me in the voices of many difference characters. They weren\u2019t fictitious or part of a script. They appeared to be coming from somewhere deep in him \u2014 and they weren\u2019t pleasant to be around.\u201d With the help of her godmother, Kay Thompson \u2014 a singer, actress, and choreographer who also wrote the Eloise books, possibly inspired in part by Minnelli \u2014 Liza left Sellers and headed back to New York. There she got back to her free lovin\u2019 ways, hooking up with a who\u2019s who of eligible men including Martin Scorsese and Mikhail Baryshnikov.<\/p>\n

\t\t3. Gene Simmons convinced her to make a dance album in 1989 with the Pet Shop Boys<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s amazing\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1989, Minnelli was posted up in London with her old friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. to perform a show dubbed \u201cThe Ultimate Event.\u201d She\u2019d known them since she was an infant \u2014 Sinatra and Garland had a deep love for each other, though Garland knew she could never actually marry him; Davis was a fixture in the Minnelli home, bouncing Liza on his knee when she was a baby. The two men had a tour planned with Dean Martin \u2014 a Rat Pack reunion \u2014 but Martin had dropped out after a few dates, and they asked Minnelli to fill in.<\/p>\n

\n\tA few months before, she\u2019d had dinner with her friend, Kiss\u2019s Gene Simmons, who marveled at the fact that she\u2019d never had a hit record. She was a live performer, she explained. \u201cI reminded him that I had built a career singing on Broadway, holding unbroken records at Carnegie Hall, and in some of the largest venues around the world,\u201d she writes. \u201cHe cut to the chase: I was a big star and should be making records with modern pop songs.\u201d He linked her up with CBS Records, who then signed her to Epic and put her in the studio with one of their top electro-pop acts: The Pet Shop Boys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tTogether, they made Results, with Minnelli crooning standards over Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe\u2019s beats. The lead single, \u201cLosing My Mind\u201d \u2014 an adaptation of a show tune from Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Follies \u2014 hit Number Six in the U.K. \u201cWe also shot a video that presented a totally new image for me,\u201d she writes. \u201cInstead of a bright and brassy Liza, I was dancing seductively against a dark, shadowy background. The album was called Results but it could have just as easily been titled Departures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t4. Her role on Arrested Development gave her new hope\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli first met Ron Howard when he was playing the titular Eddie in the 1962 movie The Courtship of Eddie\u2019s Father, directed by Minnelli\u2019s father. Liza would babysit Ron, and the two struck up a friendship. Forty years later, Howard called Minnelli to see if she would cameo in his new show, Arrested Development. \u201cI\u2019ve had tons of pitches over the years from people who want to cast me in movies or TV shows. Most were forgettable. But I knew and trusted Ronny,\u201d she writes. Then she read the script. \u201cThis was a show that grabbed you by the funny bone from the opening moments and didn\u2019t let go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA few weeks before she got the call, she\u2019d relapsed, sneaking out of her Upper East Side apartment, downing some liquor at a nearby bar, and collapsing in the middle of Lexington Avenue. Now, she was suddenly a cult figure. \u201cA month after one of the saddest days of my life, I was embraced by a generation of young fans who knew little about my life and career,\u201d she writes. \u201cAll they knew was that I blew them away on television. I was suddenly, miraculously, reborn. Once again, a life of highs and lows.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t5. She still struggles with substance use disorder, but is 11 years sober<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli grew up taking care of her mom, and helping her manage her own addictions, and it wasn\u2019t until her mom\u2019s death that she first tried prescription pills. \u201cStress and tension overwhelmed me,\u201d she writes. \u201cI was reeling, and a doctor prescribed Valium to help me relax just before the funeral. It was the first time I took any such drug, and I marveled at how quickly it took the edge off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo began her dark battle with addiction<\/a> that has lasted her entire life. \u201cFor me and millions of others, addiction is a disease,\u201d she writes. \u201cSomething in your blood that you can\u2019t control, a disaster burned into your DNA\u2026 After all these years, I finally understand. I\u2019ve been waging a war my whole adult life with what we now call SUD, substance use disorder \u2026 I got it from Mama and she got it from her family. Just like Mama\u2019s sense of humor, all of us inherited it in the womb.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the memoir, Minnelli writes openly about her struggles, and the numerous times she\u2019s hit rock bottom. She\u2019s been to rehab more times than a reader can keep track of, and while she offers explanations \u2014 SUD, her horrible marriage to the late producer David Gest, managing the physical pain that comes with a 60-year career as a singer and dancer \u2014 she never makes excuses.<\/p>\n

\t\t6. She wrote the book as a way to reclaim her narrative after a disastrous appearance at the 2022 Oscars<\/a><\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s no secret that Minnelli is still mad at Lady Gaga for their appearance together at the 2022 Oscars. Things had started hopeful \u2014 for the 50th anniversary of her Oscar win for Cabaret, Minnelli was invited to the ceremony to give the Best Picture award alongside the pop superstar. She knew she wasn\u2019t well enough to stand for the presentation, so her plan, she writes, had been to sit on a director\u2019s chair on stage \u2014 seated and stable, with a clear eyeline to the teleprompter. Moments before she was set to go out, however, she was given an ultimatum by producers: either go out in a wheelchair, or don\u2019t go out at all. This was for her safety, they told her. She pushed back \u2014 she was fine to walk out, and the sight of her in a wheelchair was going to spark tabloid headlines about her health. But what hurt her most was that Gaga joined in, insisting that she needed to be in a wheelchair. Minnelli eventually caved \u2014 she worried that her not going out there at all would make the headlines worse \u2014 but she flubbed the lines, she says, because she couldn\u2019t read them from where she was.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel she cast a shadow over my present career that I\u2019m still fighting to overcome,\u201d she writes. \u201cI can forgive this. But I will never forget it. Nobody who was there has ever apologized to me for what happened that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the limo home, she decided the next step was to set the record straight with a memoir. Her mother had hoped to write one, to push back at the gossip that had consumed her career, but had died before she had the chance. For Liza, things would be different. On the drive home, she thought about the picture that had won \u2014 CODA \u2014 and the meaning behind its title. \u201cThe word coda means the final act, the last passage of a musical composition, or the last moments of a novel,\u201d she writes. \u201cAs I rode home from the Oscars, I savored that thought. Writing my memoir would be my coda, my truth. \u201cI know it\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but there\u2019s always a light somewhere to help you escape the darkness. There\u2019s always a rainbow \u2014 if you know where to look for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liza Minnelli has heard your jokes. Born 80 years ago to two of Hollywood\u2019s biggest names \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[140,2584,434,18,117,19,17,97229,13186],"class_list":["post-385266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-addiction","tag-book","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liza-minnelli","tag-memoir"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116229054399221669","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}