Gaga Memory Test, Cocaine-Fueled Scorsese Affair

In her long-awaited memoir, Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, showbiz icon and EGOT winner Liza Minnelli — who turns 80 on March 12 — pulls back the curtain on a life lived at maximum volume. Across its 400-odd pages, the Cabaret star dishes on a life filled with famous friends, explosive romances, family wounds and backstage chaos.

The Hollywood Reporter has sped-read through the book to compile a list of its wildest anecdotes and confessions, which include the full retelling of her Oscar-night humiliation; the inside account of her drug-fueled affair with Martin Scorsese; and gory new details behind two of her doomed marriages.

Minnelli claims Lady Gaga insisted on a wheelchair at 2022 Oscars — and subjected her to a cognitive test

Minnelli recalls the chaos surrounding her appearance at the 2022 Academy Awards, writing that after witnessing Will Smith slap Chris Rock onstage, she thought “nothing worse could happen that night,” 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 Cabaret, Minnelli says that minutes before air she was told she could not sit in the director’s chair she had requested. According to Minnelli, Gaga then insisted she would not go onstage unless Minnelli used a wheelchair and even suggested she might be better off going home. “Why?” 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. “That night and in the days that followed, [Gaga] was widely praised for this seemingly gentle gesture, which came at my expense,” Minnelli writes, adding that she has never received an apology for what she describes as a humiliating moment.

She says ex-husband David Gest manipulated her, drained her finances and nearly stole her art

Minnelli 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. “Liza, you deserve to be the biggest star in the world. And that’s what we’re going to do, together,” 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 “just took whatever he wanted… He threw it away as if we were billionaires.” At one point, she says, she realized he was eyeing her valuable art collection. “He was coming for my Warhols!” 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. “Loser!” Minnelli adds. She also recalls feeling repulsed at their wedding by what she describes as an aggressive public kiss, writing that Gest “plunged his tongue deep into my mouth. Like a shark mangling a piece of meat… It was grotesque.”

Minnelli walked in on first husband Peter Allen having sex with another man

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. “My center of gravity crumbled. My mind was spinning… all I could do was stand there. Disbelieving and numb,” she writes. Allen soon approached her in tears and confessed, “Liza, I love you more than anyone in the world… and I’m gay.” Minnelli says the revelation did not immediately end the marriage. “In the end, this didn’t break us. In that sad moment of discovery, we still felt enormous love for each other,” she writes, though the image lingered painfully: “Whenever we were apart, the image of two men having sex in our bed would come racing back into my brain.”
 
Mother Judy Garland’s addiction forced Minnelli to become her full-time caretaker at 13

Minnelli writes that growing up with Judy Garland forced her into adult responsibilities almost immediately. By 13, she says, she had effectively become her mother’s caretaker, acting as “a nurse, doctor, pharmacologist, and psychiatrist rolled into one,” while monitoring Garland’s medication and giving her pills so she could function. “Then I’d watch to make sure she was okay,” 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. “At 5 years old, I learned that if Mama got angry, she was the most terrifying person in my life,” she writes, adding that the chaos of Garland’s addiction left her with a lasting trigger, “a horror of screaming voices.” 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. “We’d put on all the clothes we could, maybe five layers, and walk out laughing,” she recalls. Even amid those crises, Minnelli says Garland remained acutely aware of her public image. “Mama wanted people to feel sorry for her. No matter how bad the stories were, she loved playing the victim,” she writes, describing it as an early form of celebrity branding.

Minnelli details her torrid, cocaine-fueled affair with Martin Scorsese

Minnelli describes her romance with New York, New York director Martin Scorsese as volatile and passionate, writing that “our love affair had more layers than a lasagna.” The two bonded, she says, over their shared Italian heritage and artistic intensity. “We were both Italian. Passionate. Intense. Committed to our craft. We both had volcanic tempers.” As production progressed on the film, which she says unsettled her because of its reliance on improvisation, Scorsese’s cocaine use escalated. “It 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,” she writes, adding that the pair were “constant companions” during that period. Scorsese, she recalls, insisted the drug fueled his creativity. “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 abuse? Only Marty can answer that for himself.”