Watch Liza Minnelli Spasm in Chair at Book Launch Event — Sparking Death Fears as Diva Axes Public Appearance on ‘Doctor’s Orders’

Watch Liza Minnelli Spasm in Chair at Book Launch Event — Sparking Death Fears as Diva Axes Public Appearance on ‘Doctor’s Orders’

RadarOnline.com can reveal Liza Minnelli has sparked huge health fears among fans after the 80-year-old icon appeared disoriented on stage during a memoir launch event – and later pulled out of a planned engagement on what sources described as doctor’s orders.

Minnelli, 80, recently appeared at a sold-out event at the Million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the release of her autobiography, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, alongside longtime collaborator Michael Feinstein.

Tribute Night Sparks Concern Among Fans

Photo of Liza Minnelli
Source: MEGAThe eighty-year-old icon struggled to stay on track during a Q&A with Michael Feinstein.

The evening was billed as a celebratory retrospective of her life and career, featuring archival footage, live performance, and a Q&A session with questions submitted by the audience. Minnelli, who has long spoken about her past struggles with alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, and who now lives with mobility issues, was introduced on stage already seated in a director’s chair following a choreographed dance sequence.

Feinstein asked Minnelli how she was able to move forward with the many challenges in her life, including having multiple husbands and the physical pains she has suffered over the years.

But Minnelli rambled in reply: “Don’t we all,” prompting fans to say she was making “no sense” for much of the talk.

Concerns Grow Over Incoherent Appearance

Photo of Liza Minnelli
Source: MEGAAudience members at the Million Dollar Theater noted Minnelli appeared incoherent and confused.

Audience members described several other instances in which Minnelli appeared to lose her train of thought or respond incoherently.

One attendee said: “She would begin answering and then drift off or laugh in a way that didn’t quite match the question,” adding the atmosphere shifted from celebratory to concerned as the night went on.

Another source said: “People were whispering about her health – it wasn’t what they expected from such a major event. Liza could be seen slumping and spasming as she was stuck in a chair, before she was carried off stage.”

“There are real fears she has only weeks or even days left to live now.”

Minnelli was not seen walking onto the stage and remained seated throughout the hour-long appearance. At several points, Feinstein and Minnelli’s niece, Vanessa Jade O’Neill, who joined them on stage, stepped in to redirect the conversation.

Despite their efforts, Minnelli frequently veered into tangents, at times appearing confused by the questions posed to her.

 

Tangents and Confusion Mark the Night

Photo of Liza Minnelli
Source: MEGACollaborators and family members stepped in during the live event to redirect her tangents.

The event opened with a montage tracing Minnelli’s life from her childhood as the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli through her rise to stardom, including her Academy Award-winning role in Cabaret in 1972 and her collaborations with choreographer Bob Fosse. The program also highlighted her advocacy work in HIV/AIDS research and her enduring influence on theater and pop culture.

In a moment that drew both applause and unease, Minnelli told Feinstein: “No, I think it was the first time that I was on stage to perform with you,” when asked about her most memorable performance.

Later, during a duet of the Gershwin standard “Love is Here to Stay,” she struggled to stay on key, joking at one point: “I’m in Dolly Martin’s key!” – in an apparent reference to Dolly Parton.

Toward the end of the evening, Minnelli appeared to slump in her chair, her expression briefly pained as the finale performance of “New York, New York” played.

She then rallied, lifting her leg in time with the music as the chair was moved off stage to cheers from the audience.

 

 

New York Engagement Abruptly Cancelled

Photo of Liza Minnelli and Lady Gaga
Source: ABC/YOUTUBEThe star recalled staying gracious when Lady Gaga assisted her on the Academy Awards stage.

Following the event, sources close to the production said Minnelli would no longer appear at a scheduled New York City engagement at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center on March 23.

It has since been confirmed that the event is being rescheduled.

“Hey Kids, Doctor Piro’s orders, I’m sitting Monday out,” Minnelli announced to her fans via Instagram on Friday evening about the cancellation, while telling those who were supposed to come to the show. “I’m so sorry.”

One insider said: “The decision was made out of caution – her doctors advised that she should rest after what happened on stage.”

In her memoir, Minnelli rages about being left humiliated after allegedly being forced to appear in a wheelchair on stage at the Oscars with Lady Gaga, instead of sitting on a director’s chair as she wanted.

Minnelli said: “When I stumbled over a few words, Gaga, who was at my side, didn’t miss a beat to play the kind-hearted hero for all the world to see. “‘I got you,’ she said, leaning down over me.”

Gaga then came to her dressing room to check if she was “okay” – with Minnelli simply replying: “I’m a big fan,” saying she “learned this lesson years ago from Mama and Papa. At a moment of high stress, you stay gracious.”

.

 

Liza Minnelli says affair with Martin Scorsese had ‘more layers than a lasagne’ as they descended into shocking drug abuse together

Liza Minnelli and “Goodfellas” director Martin Scorsese had a tumultuous secret affair with “more layers than a lasagne”— as they sank into a deep pit of drug addiction together.

In her new memoir, “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!” Minnelli, 79, details how she fell for Scorsese on the set of their 1977 movie musical, “New York, New York,” while they were married to other people.

Both had “volcanic tempers” and things were so intense that Minnelli and her then-husband, Jack Haley, once ran into Scorsese in Greenwich Village — and the director berated her because he’d heard she was also having an affair with Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Liza Minnelli, in a dress, holding a microphone and talking to Martin Scorsese, in a black suit, who is adjusting his bow tie.

Minnelli does admit to sleeping with the Russian ballet dancer.

“How can you do this to me. How can you do this to me!” Scorsese, now 83, yelled at her.

She blames the affair on “amour fou. The French term for a passionate relationship that becomes a self destructive obsession … The relationship becomes a powerful hypnotic drug in every way.”

 

And drugs ruled the relationship, too.

“As we filmed, Marty became a heavier and heavier user of cocaine. It seemed that it 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,” Minnelli writes.

Liza Minnelli, in a black dress, Robert De Niro, in a patterned shirt and white pants, and Martin Scorsese, in a white shirt shirt and jeans, on a sofa during the production of *New York, New York*.
Minnelli met Scorsese on the set of the 1977 movie musical, “New York, New York,” which also starred Robert De Niro — who later told a drug-addled Scorsese to get his act together.Everett Collection / Everett Collection
From left: Liza Minnelli in a purple dress, Elizabeth Taylor in a blue dress and Betty Ford in a gold dress.
Elizabeth Taylor (center, between Minelli and former First Lady Betty Ford at Studio 54, in 1977) told Minnelli she would die if she didn’t go to rehab. She first went to the Betty Ford center in 1984.Getty Images
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“We were constant companions and I was right there beside him. Line by line, 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 use?”

The Post has reached out to Scorsese’s representative for comment.

During the affair, the “Cabaret” icon was wed to second husband Jack Haley Jr. — whose father played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” alongside Minnelli’s mother, Judy Garland, as Dorothy. Scorsese was married to second wife Julia Cameron, the mother of his daughter Domenica, at the time.

“We were on a runaway train,” Minnelli writes of the affair. “Nothing good could come of it.”

Martha Graham, in a gold dress, Halston, in a black tie suit, and Liza Minnelli , in a red gown, at a benefit for the Martha Graham Dance Company.
In her memoir, Minnelli recounts turning up late one night at the home of designer Halston (second from left) alongside her lover Martin Scorsese, asking for drugs.Getty Images

She recalls how one incident popped up in Andy Warhol’s published diaries, when she and Scorsese turned up late one night at the Manhattan home of fashion designer Halston.

“‘Give me all the drugs you’ve got,’” I said, and he handed over some cocaine, marijuana, Valium and quaaludes,” she writes. “Then Marty, who had been waiting around the corner, came up to Halston and kissed him on the cheek. We thanked him and said goodbye.”

Meanwhile, their movie rocketed past its $7 million budget, to $12 million, and took 22 weeks to complete instead of the planned 14.

When released, “it did not live up to box office expectations,” Minnelli admits.

Black and white photo of Vincente Minnelli, in a suit, Liza Minnelli,in a romper, and Judy Garland, in a black coat and hat.
The star calls herself the original “nepo baby” after being born to director Vincente Minnelli and actress Judy Garland — who also struggled with drug addiction before dying of a barbiturate overdose at age 47.Getty Images
Singers Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli in matching red and white and gold outfits on a stage.
Minnelli writes of being “terrified” of her mother. She duetted with Garland on “The Judy Garland Show” in 1963.

Her illicit affair with Scorsese continued after the film premiered, when she demanded that he direct her new Broadway musical, “The Act,” even though he had never before helmed a big stage show.

But Scorsese sent up a “red flag” when he walked into the theater and insisted on a dressing room, something a director never has.

Minnelli ended up having to fire her lover, even though “it damn near killed me and broke my heart.”

Scorsese, meanwhile, was “exhausted … and a steady diet of hostility and substances certainly wasn’t helping matters. As it turns out, his life was in jeopardy, and he is now able to admit that he ended up in the hospital cheating death.”

Liza Minnelli, dressed in a black sequined outfit, is pushed in a wheelchair next to a car.
Minnelli, seen here in 2022, turned to prescription drugs after dealing with debilitating pain from arthritis and hip replacement surgeries.GC Images
Liza Minnelli , in a yellow dress and pattered choker, and Joel Grey, in black tie, posing with their Oscars at the 45th Academy Awards.
She scooped a Best Actress Oscar for “Cabaret,” alongside co-star Joel Grey, in 1973.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pal Robert De Niro gave Scorsese a dose of “very tough love” in the hospital, Minnelli writes, telling him he had to get himself together for his young daughter. The actor also convinced him to direct “Raging Bull,” a movie that would change both their lives, earning Scorsese Best Director and Best Picture nominations at the Oscars in 1981.

And yet, the affair continued, even though Minnelli was still married and missing performances due to the “steady impact of drugs and alcohol.”

And “not all of the bad feelings have healed,” Minnelli admits. “Years later, I saw Marty at the Oscars ceremony in 2014 and walked up to say hello. Unfortunately he turned away from me. Very sad.”

Book cover for Liza Minnelli's memoir, "Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!"
Minnelli delves into her addiction struggles and lovers in her new memoir, “Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!” Co-authored with pal Michael Feinstein, the book is out now.

The four-times-married Minnelli — who calls herself the original “nepo baby,” as she was born to Garland and “An American in Paris” director Vincente Minnelli — also details how addiction was in her blood. Garland struggled for years before her death from an accidental barbiturate overdose at age 47, in 1969.

Lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor told Minnelli that Minnelli would die if she did not go to rehab, leading to her checking into the Betty Ford Clinic in 1984.

Sobriety didn’t stick.

Liza Minnelli, in a black suit, Michael Feinstein, in a blue suit, and Jonathan Bennett perform onstage during the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.
Minnelli was greeted with applause at the GLAAD Awards in Beverly Hills this week.Getty Images for GLAAD

After undergoing a hip replacement, she abused Oxycontin and, in 2000, staffers found her collapsed at home.

“It looked like I had suffered a major stroke,” she said. “Fire department officials said I was paralyzed on one side of my body. My speech was slurred, my facial muscles sagging. Dr Maurice Hanson, a respected neurologist, later told the press that I had a severe case of encephalitis — a sudden inflammation of the brain that can be fatal.”

She admits to lying to the press, saying it was from a mosquito bite.

Liza Minnelli as a young child in a ballet pose wearing a white tutu and white headband.
Minnelli started performing at an early age.Minnelli Family Archives 

In reality, friends found 60 Oxy pills stashed under her mattress and around the house. “I can’t remember how many prescription bottles were in my bathroom and bedroom,” Minnelli notes.

Even that didn’t stop her.

Minnelli writes of being so messed up on drugs and alcohol in 2003 that she passed out on a Lexington Avenue sidewalk — with New Yorkers “who didn’t give a damn who I was” stepping over her.

But now, Minnelli says, she has been sober for 11 years — her last stint in rehab was at a Malibu recovery center in 2015.

“It’s the great personal victory of my life. But let me warn you — I’m not talking about a slam dunk triumph over addiction. An addict is always in recovery or dying.”

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