Nate Knows Nada

Liza Minnelli’s Almost-Ex-Husband Sues Her, Claiming She Beat Him

By
SUSAN SAULNY


David Gest sued Liza Minnelli yesterday, claiming that while
they lived together she went into numerous alcohol-induced rages and beat him so
badly that he “suffers from virtually constant, unrelenting pain” in his
head.


According to Mr. Gest’s lawsuit, Ms. Minnelli gained physical
strength from drinking vodka, and would routinely turn that strength against him
with her fists. Mr. Gest’s complaint, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan,
details several instances in which he says he was beaten. The couple has been
separated since July, and Mr. Gest’s lawyer, Raoul L. Felder, expects that
formal divorce papers will be filed within a week or so.


In a union that
from the start had all the makings of a publicity extravaganza, filing a lawsuit
claiming assault before filing for divorce could have been Mr. Gest’s way of
airing his grievances before the court — or the public — in advance of any
procedure to end the marriage. Mr. Felder would not discuss the specifics of the
lawsuit.


Ms. Minnelli had not yet filed a response in court last evening,
and a call to her lawyer, Allan Arrow, was not immediately returned, nor were
calls to one of her aides, the agency that represented the couple when they were
married, and Ms. Minnelli’s booking agency.


In the papers submitted in
court, Mr. Gest described himself as “a world-renown event and concert
producer-promoter,” and Ms. Minnelli as someone whose “career had been eclipsed,
she was an alcoholic, overweight, unable to be effectively merchandised, could
not get insurance to perform concert dates on stage, or in any other artistic
media.”


Describing one of their typical fights, Mr. Gest said in the
complaint that while he and Ms. Minnelli were visiting London in June, she left
their hotel saying she was going “to fetch take-out food.” But instead, he said,
she started drinking vodka while she was out and returned to the hotel
intoxicated. He claims she threw a lamp at him and tried to beat up their
security guard, screaming and running from room to room.


In the suit,
which asks for $10 million, Mr. Gest said that he “limited his actions to trying
to avoid the blows by crossing his arms over his face and shouting repeatedly,
`Liza, stop it, stop it!’ “


While Mr. Felder would not comment on Mr.
Gest’s case, he said he would welcome the opportunity to talk about domestic
violence against men. “I think it takes a certain kind of strength to reveal
it,” he said.



Ms. Minnelli and Mr. Gest were married with much ado in March 2002
before 1,100 guests at Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. At the
reception, Carol Channing, a guest, compared the whole thing “to when
they opened the World’s Fair.”