Domestic violence, especially violence within a marriage, is always a nightmare and never the least bit funny— unless, that is, we are talking about the Liza Minnelli and the future ex-Mr. Liza Minnelli, David Gest marriage. As phrased in the headlines of both of today‘s New York tabloids “Liza Beat Me!”
Excuse me, Liza with a Z beat me.
You got it, celebrity boxing. This all-star quality bizarre match was troubled from the start. It was essentially a prop for a reality TV show that never got off the ground. In a $10 million lawsuit, now Gest says Liza made much get off the ground in his direction, like a table lamp she threw at him in a London hotel suite.
Mostly, though, Gest claims that Ms. Minnelli simply used to get drunk, gain “incredible strength from the alcohol” and then would beat him up, biting him on the chest, pounding him in the head in their apartment, pounding him in the head in a hotel, pounding him in the head in a limousine on her way to rehab. She allegedly nearly strangled her production manager, too.
Gest also claims he had to undergo multiple hospitalizations, that he now takes 11 prescription medicines a day to treat injuries. His attorney, Raoul Felder, told “The New York Daily News” that, just yesterday, as part of his treatment, Gest received 40 injections in his head, which, if the rest of his story is to be believed, is a lot fewer shots to the head than he used to get every day from Liza.
Liza Minnelli‘s response tonight through her attorney “I hoped very much that the end of my marriage would be handled with mutual respect and dignity. The allegations in this lawsuit are hurtful and without merit.”
Some of us will simply guffaw at this story. Others recoil. And some will even see the pathos in the fall of a woman who was one was once one of the world‘s most charismatic performers.
This was the No. 1 story on Wednesday’s ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann.’ Countdown airs weeknights, 8 p.m. ET