David Gest claims Liza Minnelli beat him during alcoholic rages.
NEW YORK (AP) – Liza Minnelli said charges that she beat her estranged husband, David Gest, during alcoholic rages are “hurtful and without merit,” in a statement released Wednesday.
Her statement came one day after Gest filed a $10 million lawsuit, claiming he suffered long-term damage from beatings during their 16-month marriage. They separated in July.
“I hoped very much that the end of my marriage would be handled with mutual respect and dignity,” Minnelli said in the statement, released by her lawyer, Allen Arrow. “The allegations in this lawsuit are hurtful and without merit. My lawyers will respond to the lawsuit in the proper forum.
“I will continue to focus on my work, my sobriety and my fans who have been so wonderful to me.”
Gest, 50, alleged in court papers filed Tuesday that the 57-year-old entertainer flew into drunken rages on several occasions, insulting him and beating him all over his body.
Gest’s lawyer, Raoul Felder, said his client suffered neurological damage and headaches from the attacks. Gest is being treated at a rehabilitation clinic in Honolulu, where he takes 11 medications a day, Felder said.
Minnelli and Gest wed at a celebrity-studded ceremony that featured best man Michael Jackson carrying the bride’s train and Elizabeth Taylor serving as maid of honor.
The two were introduced by Jackson when Gest, a producer and promoter, produced Jackson’s 30th-anniversary tribute concert for television. It was Minnelli’s fourth marriage and Gest’s first.
Their brief marriage provided plenty of tabloid fodder; the pair were supposed to be the subject of a VH1 reality show, but it was canceled when the network charged Gest was impossible to work with; the pair later filed a lawsuit against VH1.
And in March, Minnelli, who has battled health and substance abuse problems for years, entered a “self-help” program at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in rural central Pennsylvania.
AP-ES-10-22-03 1836EDT
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