Liza Minnelli Spills on Scorsese Affair, Moonwalk Origins

Liza Minnelli's new memoir does not tiptoe onto the stage. Kids, Wait Til You Hear This!, out Tuesday, is as unfiltered as its title, and writing at the Guardian, Ben Beaumont-Thomas pulls out some of the wildest bits from a life lived around Hollywood royalty, Broadway legends, and more than a few bad decisions. "Minnelli," he writes, "is quite heroically unburdened by tact, and as she sketches her life from gilded Hollywood to scrappy New York and on through addiction, ill health and multiple marriages, everyone—most of all herself—is assessed with bracing honesty."

Minnelli writes candidly about an affair with a married Martin Scorsese during the filming of New York, New York, and a toxic, increasingly disturbing relationship with Peter Sellers—who, she says, once showed up at Joan Collins' house in full Nazi costume shouting "Sieg Heil." She details swapping out Judy Garland's pills for aspirin as a terrified 13-year-old caretaker, clashing with Stephen Sondheim over a flubbed lyric, and getting tough-love rehab lectures from Elizabeth Taylor. She gives blistering takes on ex-husband David Gest, nights sleeping on a Central Park bench, passing out on Lexington Avenue as strangers stepped over her, and claims she helped spark Michael Jackson's moonwalk. At 80, she's still game for dating—and still throwing sharp one-liners. Read the full piece at the Guardian.