Liza Minnelli has announced she is writing a memoir – after feeling ‘mad as hell’ about the past portrayals of her life story and her ‘sabotaged appearance at the Oscars’ alongside Lady Gaga.
The 78-year-old legend of stage and screen previously maintained she would never publish an autobiography, saying: ‘Tell it when I’m gone!’
However, she changed her mind after being infuriated by the inaccurate depictions of her own life and that of her late mother Judy Garland.
Now she is working with two professional writers to put her memories between covers, looking back on the experience of being raised in Hollywood by Judy and the renowned director Vincente Minnelli.
She will also reflect on her glittering career, including her Oscar-winning performance in Cabaret, and will recount the saga of her four failed marriages and her struggle with drug addiction, according to People.
Liza Minnelli has announced she is writing a memoir – after feeling ‘mad as hell’ about the past portrayals of her life story; pictured in 2011
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Liza is putting the book together with Pulitzer-winning journalist Heidi Evans and Josh Getlin, the former New York bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times.
She also enlisted the help of her longtime close friend Michael Feinstein, a song-and-dance man who has worked with her several times over the years.
The book is scheduled for publication in spring 2026, accompanied by an audio version with archival material from the last 15 years that has never been made public.
Liza confessed that a ‘series of unfortunate events’ prompted her to write about her ‘life, loves and family’ after she spent decades dismissing the idea of a memoir.
‘Since I was old enough to put pencil to paper, people asked me to write books about my career. Absolutely not! “Tell it when I’m gone!” Was my philosophy.’
Then came her ‘sabotaged appearance at the Oscars,’ a ‘film with twisted half-truths’ and ‘a recent miniseries that just didn’t get it right.’
Liza expressed her frustration with the fact that the previous dramatizations of her life were ‘made by people who didn’t know my family, and don’t really know me.’
She publicly distanced herself from the 2019 film Judy, starring Renee Zellweger in the story of Judy Garland’s final decline before her tragic death of a barbiturate overdose in 1969 at the age of just 47.
In 2022, Liza was mocked online for an embarrassing appearance at the Oscars when Lady Gaga rolled her onstage in a wheelchair to present best picture
Gaga’s cloying interactions with Liza – whispering: ‘I got you’ to her in an aside that was caught on the mic – fueled conjecture about the latter’s health
Liza decided to write the book after being infuriated by the inaccurate depictions of her own life and that of her late mother Judy Garland, whom she is pictured with in 1965
In the pages of her book, she will look back on the experience of being raised in Hollywood by Judy and the renowned director Vincente Minnelli; Judy and Liza pictured in 1963
She will also reflect on her glittering career, including her Oscar-winning performance in Cabaret, for which she is pictured in a publicity still
Liza had witheringly denounced the play Judy was based on, and while the movie was being made, she released a statement saying she did ‘not approve nor sanction the upcoming film about Judy Garland in any way.’
In 2022, Liza was mocked online for an embarrassing appearance at the Oscars when Lady Gaga rolled her onstage in a wheelchair to present best picture.
Gaga’s cloying interactions with Liza – whispering: ‘I got you’ to her in an aside that was caught on the mic – fueled conjecture about the latter’s health.
Michael Feinstein later claimed Liza was ‘forced’ to go onstage in a wheelchair at the last minute, after first agreeing to appear in a director’s chair for her ‘back trouble.’
Liza was ‘sabotaged’ by the switch-up and came away feeling ‘very disappointed,’ Michael said on The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM.
Now Liza has revealed that, after seeing herself portrayed in ways she disapproved of: ‘Finally, I was mad as hell! Over dinner one night, I decided, it’s my own damn story…. I’m gonna share it with you because of all the love you’ve given me.’
She recalled: ‘I turned to my most beloved friend, Michael Feinstein and yelled: “Help!” We’ve been joined at the hip for 40 years. As Ambassador of the Great American Songbook and my absolute favorite collaborator.’
Liza added: ‘Michael’s one of the greats, he’s razor-sharp and he tells the truth. That’s important because, as I fly towards my eighth decade of living, memories differ.’
Liza was born in 1946 to movie star Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, after the couple met working on the classic film Meet Me In St. Louis; Judy and Liza pictured 1947
Liza often remarks that she received her ‘dreams’ from her father and her ‘drive’ from her mother during her upbringing in showbiz; pictured with Judy in 1947
Liza, who as a child often accompanied her mother on concert tours, is pictured with Judy and the latter’s third husband Sid Luft in 1954
Having soldiered through ‘incredible events and life-threatening battles,’ she said she is now ‘Lady Peaceful, Lady Happy’ – quoting a line from her song Maybe This Time, which she sang in Cabaret in 1972.
‘Thank you all for loving me so much…being concerned about me,’ she added, apparently acknowledging the fans who had grown worried about Liza’s health as she became increasingly reclusive in recent years.
‘I want you to know I’m still here, still kicking a**, still loving life and still creating. So, until this book arrives, know that I’m laughing, safe in every way, surrounded by loved ones and excited to see what’s right around the curve of life. Kids, wait ‘til you hear this,’ she concluded her statement.
Liza was born in 1946 to movie star Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, after the couple met working on the classic film Meet Me In St. Louis.
Vincente was the second of Judy’s five husbands, in a rocky personal life that was buffeted by decades of addiction that led to her death.
Liza often remarks that she received her ‘dreams’ from her father and her ‘drive’ from her mother during her upbringing in showbiz.
She accompanied her father to the sets of his films and joined her mother on concert tours, changing schools constantly and living in hotels.
Looking back on that period, Liza has joked that she would have starved if she had not learned how to order room service by herself as a child.
In the 1960s, she became an internationally touring concert act, mixing American show tunes with numbers by her mentor Charles Aznavour, the ‘French Frank Sinatra’
In 1972, she appeared in the movie role that remains most closely identified with her to this day – Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse’s musical drama Cabaret
Cabaret starred Liza as a nightclub singer in Weimar Berlin, giddily indifferent to the menace of the Nazis; she is pictured in the film with her co-star Michael York
Liza won an Oscar for Cabaret with her father by her side – and when her name was called, he shrieked with joy so loudly that he gave her tinnitus; pictured accepting her Academy Award
As she grew older, she became a protector of sorts for Judy, helping shield her from the public scrutiny on her personal demons.
In her late teens, Liza struck out to New York alone to pursue a career as a Broadway star, never taking money from her parents again.
She got her big break in the 1965 musical Flora, The Red Menace, with songs by Fred Ebb and John Kander, a duo who became Liza’s lifelong friends and collaborators.
Although the show flopped commercially, Liza won a Tony Award for best leading actress – becoming, at age 19, the youngest woman ever to do so.
Her career went from strength to strength, as she earned her first Oscar nomination for the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo.
She became an internationally touring concert act, mixing American show tunes with numbers by her mentor Charles Aznavour, the ‘French Frank Sinatra.’
Liza has described Charles as ‘the biggest influence on my personal and professional life,’ while he said they were ‘more than friends and less than lovers,’ via INA.
In 1972, she appeared in the movie role that remains most closely identified with her to this day – Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse’s musical drama Cabaret.
Based on a Broadway show with a score by Kander & Ebb, the film starred Liza as a nightclub singer in Weimar Berlin, giddily indifferent to the menace of the Nazis.
She starred opposite Robert De Niro in the Martin Scorsese film New York, New York, whose title song by Kander & Ebb has become an unofficial anthem for the city
In 1981, she was the leading lady of the smash hit comedy film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore as a lovably drunken playboy and John Gielgud as his acerbic butler
Liza’s concert performances remained a mainstay of her career through the decades; pictured alongside Tony Bennett in a CBS TV special in 1995
Liza won an Oscar for Cabaret with her father by her side – and when her name was called, he shrieked with joy so loudly that he gave her tinnitus.
The 1970s and early 1980s proved to be the peak of her career, with gigs such as a sold-out run at Carnegie Hall and a brief but wildly hyped stint as Roxie Hart in the original Broadway production of Kander & Ebb’s Chicago.
She acted with Robert De Niro in the 1977 Martin Scorsese film New York, New York, whose title song by Kander & Ebb has become an unofficial anthem for the city.
Liza and Marty began an affair, and he went on to direct her in the 1978 stage musical The Act, in which her performance was an inspiration to the young Meryl Streep.
In 1981, she was the leading lady of the smash hit comedy film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore as a lovably drunken playboy and John Gielgud as his acerbic butler.
However, by the late 1970s, her private life had become increasingly tempestuous, rocked by her burgeoning drug problem.
As a young woman, Liza initially steered clear of alcohol and drugs, having witnessed her mother’s fatal descent into addiction.
However in the 1970s, when she had become an internationally recognized star, she took her first drink at the Hollywood hot spot Trader Vic’s.
As a young woman, Liza initially steered clear of alcohol and drugs, having witnessed her mother’s fatal descent into addiction; Liza and Judy pictured in 1965
However in the 1970s, when she had become an internationally recognized star, she took her first drink at the Hollywood hot spot Trader Vic’s; pictured in 1977 in New York, New York
Liza described Charles Aznavour as ‘the biggest influence on my personal and professional life,’ while he said they were ‘more than friends and less than lovers’; they are pictured in 1973
She won a new generation of fans as Lucille Two, a cougar with a vertigo problem, on the beloved early-2000s sitcom Arrested Development; pictured on the show with Tony Hale
She soon plunged into a maelstrom of hedonistic excess, indulging in substances ranging from alcohol to cocaine to Quaaludes.
Ultimately, she was able to wrench herself out of her spiral, undergoing rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic and entering Alcoholics Anonymous.
Liza whirled through four failed marriages, the first being to the gay n singer Peter Allen, whom she stayed friends with until he succumbed to AIDS in 1992.
Her second husband was Jack Haley Jr. – the son of the actor who played the Tin Man alongside Judy in The Wizard Of Oz – and the third was sculptor Mark Gero.
While married to Jack, Liza allegedly conducted overlapping affairs with Martin Scorsese and Mikhail Baryshnikov, according to Andy Warhol’s dairies.
She repeatedly tried to have children, telling an interviewer: ‘I desperately want a family,’ but suffered three miscarriages and ultimately never became a mother.
Her final marriage was to Michael Jackson’s childhood friend David Gest, a bizarre spectacle that turned instantly into a media circus.
Their union dissolved into a rancorous and protracted divorce, in which he sued her for $10 million alleging spousal abuse but had his case dismissed.
Liza’s first husband was the gay n singer Peter Allen, whom she stayed friends with until he died of AIDS in 1992; Liza and Peter pictured at their wedding in 1967
Her second husband was Jack Haley Jr. – whose father played the Tin Man alongside Judy in The Wizard Of Oz – and the third was sculptor Mark Gero; Liza and Mark pictured in 1982
Her final marriage was to Michael Jackson’s childhood friend David Gest, a bizarre spectacle that turned instantly into a media circus; pictured 2002
In 2000, she contracted a terrifying case of brain encephalitis from a mosquito bite and was told she would never be able to walk again.
However, she decided with steely determination to prove the prognosis wrong, falling back on the rehearsal techniques she had learned in the theater to practice her motor skills until she got them back.
Liza emerged from her illness to enjoy a career renaissance, including a Tony-winning 2008 one-woman show dedicated to her late godmother Kay Thompson.
She won a new generation of fans as Lucille Two, a cougar with a vertigo problem, on the beloved early-2000s sitcom Arrested Development.
However she has increasingly withdrawn from the public eye in recent years, with fans harboring mounting concerns about her health.
Their worries intensified this summer when she failed to attend the premiere of her new documentary Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.
It emerged she was not well enough to make the journey from her home in Beverly Hills to New York to appear at the screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Yet she maintains a social media presence and even announced she has started recording again, among other ‘spectacular new projects.’