{"id":334650,"date":"2026-03-12T03:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/334650\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:12:08","slug":"gaga-memory-test-cocaine-fueled-scorsese-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/334650\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaga Memory Test, Cocaine-Fueled Scorsese Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn\u00a0her\u00a0long-awaited\u00a0memoir,\u00a0Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!<\/a>, showbiz icon and EGOT winner Liza Minnelli<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who turns 80 on March 12 \u2014 pulls\u00a0back\u00a0the\u00a0curtain\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0life\u00a0lived\u00a0at\u00a0maximum\u00a0volume.\u00a0Across its 400-odd pages, the\u00a0Cabaret star dishes on a life filled with famous friends, explosive romances, family wounds and backstage chaos.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter has sped-read through the book to compile a list of its wildest\u00a0anecdotes\u00a0and\u00a0confessions, which include the full retelling of her Oscar-night humiliation; the inside account of her drug-fueled affair with Martin Scorsese<\/a>; and gory new details behind two of her doomed marriages.<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli claims Lady Gaga<\/a> insisted on a wheelchair at 2022 Oscars \u2014 and subjected her to a cognitive test<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli recalls the chaos surrounding her appearance at the 2022 Academy Awards, writing that after witnessing Will Smith slap Chris Rock onstage, she thought \u201cnothing worse could happen that night,\u201d only for what she describes as her own nightmare to unfold backstage. Scheduled to present best picture with Lady Gaga while commemorating the 50th anniversary of\u00a0Cabaret, Minnelli says that minutes before air she was told she could not sit in the director\u2019s chair she had requested. According to Minnelli<\/a>, Gaga then insisted she would not go onstage unless Minnelli used a wheelchair and even suggested she might be better off going home. \u201cWhy?\u201d Minnelli writes was her incredulous response. She adds that Gaga quizzed her backstage to test whether her memory was intact, asking the name of the film being celebrated and the character she had played in it. In the confusion, Minnelli says she was pushed onstage seated so low that she struggled to read the teleprompter, creating the impression she was not only physically frail but mentally diminished. \u201cThat night and in the days that followed, [Gaga] was widely praised for this seemingly gentle gesture, which came at my expense,\u201d Minnelli writes, adding that she has never received an apology for what she describes as a humiliating moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe says ex-husband David Gest manipulated her, drained her finances and nearly stole her art<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli portrays her marriage to David Gest as a con that devolved into financial and emotional exploitation, writing that the concert promoter won her over with grand promises about reviving her career. \u201cLiza, you deserve to be the biggest star in the world. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do, together,\u201d she recalls him telling her, though she says the relationship soon became transactional once concert money began flowing in. Gest gained access to her accounts, she writes, and \u201cjust took whatever he wanted\u2026 He threw it away as if we were billionaires.\u201d At one point, she says, she realized he was eyeing her valuable art collection. \u201cHe was coming for my Warhols!\u201d Minnelli writes, noting that friends including Andy Warhol and designer Halston had long warned her to protect the pieces. When Gest allegedly tried to sell them while she was out of town, she says he discovered he had access only to copies. \u201cLoser!\u201d Minnelli adds. She also recalls feeling repulsed at their wedding by what she describes as an aggressive public kiss, writing that Gest \u201cplunged his tongue deep into my mouth. Like a shark mangling a piece of meat\u2026 It was grotesque.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli walked in on first husband Peter Allen having sex with another man<\/p>\n

Minnelli recounts one of the most shocking moments of her marriage to Peter Allen when she returned home unexpectedly from a shopping trip and walked into their apartment to find him having sex with another man in their bed. \u201cMy center of gravity crumbled. My mind was spinning\u2026 all I could do was stand there. Disbelieving and numb,\u201d she writes. Allen soon approached her in tears and confessed, \u201cLiza, I love you more than anyone in the world\u2026 and I\u2019m gay.\u201d Minnelli says the revelation did not immediately end the marriage. \u201cIn the end, this didn\u2019t break us. In that sad moment of discovery, we still felt enormous love for each other,\u201d she writes, though the image lingered painfully: \u201cWhenever we were apart, the image of two men having sex in our bed would come racing back into my brain.\u201d
\u00a0
Mother Judy Garland\u2019s addiction forced Minnelli to become her full-time caretaker at 13<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli writes that growing up with Judy Garland forced her into adult responsibilities almost immediately. By 13, she says, she had effectively become her mother\u2019s caretaker, acting as \u201ca nurse, doctor, pharmacologist, and psychiatrist rolled into one,\u201d while monitoring Garland\u2019s medication and giving her pills so she could function. \u201cThen I\u2019d watch to make sure she was okay,\u201d Minnelli writes, recalling how she even called doctors herself begging for prescription refills. She says she also learned early how volatile her mother could be. \u201cAt 5 years old, I learned that if Mama got angry, she was the most terrifying person in my life,\u201d she writes, adding that the chaos of Garland\u2019s addiction left her with a lasting trigger, \u201ca horror of screaming voices.\u201d Financial instability was constant as well. Minnelli remembers repeatedly sneaking out of hotels because Garland could not pay the bill, piling on layers of clothes with her siblings before slipping out the door. \u201cWe\u2019d put on all the clothes we could, maybe five layers, and walk out laughing,\u201d she recalls. Even amid those crises, Minnelli says Garland remained acutely aware of her public image. \u201cMama wanted people to feel sorry for her. No matter how bad the stories were, she loved playing the victim,\u201d she writes, describing it as an early form of celebrity branding.<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli details her torrid, cocaine-fueled affair with Martin Scorsese<\/p>\n

\n\tMinnelli describes her romance with\u00a0New York, New York\u00a0director Martin Scorsese as volatile and passionate, writing that \u201cour love affair had more layers than a lasagna.\u201d The two bonded, she says, over their shared Italian heritage and artistic intensity. \u201cWe were both Italian. Passionate. Intense. Committed to our craft. We both had volcanic tempers.\u201d As production progressed on the film, which she says unsettled her because of its reliance on improvisation, Scorsese\u2019s cocaine use escalated. \u201cIt seemed that 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,\u201d she writes, adding that the pair were \u201cconstant companions\u201d during that period. Scorsese, she recalls, insisted the drug fueled his creativity. \u201cMarty claimed the drug helped his creative juices. Sure it did. Or is that just one more fabulous lie you tell yourself when you\u2019re in the grip of substance abuse? Only Marty can answer that for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In\u00a0her\u00a0long-awaited\u00a0memoir,\u00a0Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, showbiz icon and EGOT winner Liza Minnelli\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who turns 80 on March 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[412,458,146,85,46,2220,77068,7643],"class_list":{"0":"post-334650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-lady-gaga","14":"tag-liza-minnelli","15":"tag-martin-scorsese"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}