And This Is Before It Got Ugly

By Rebecca Winters

It's hard to imagine a sum of money high enough to make you admit that Liza Minnelli can beat you up. But for Minnelli's ex, producer David Gest, it took $10 million. That's what Gest says he wants in a complaint filed last week alleging that the 5-ft. 4-in. diva flew into violent, vodka-fortified rages during their 16-month marriage. Minnelli denied the charges in a statement, saying she had "hoped very much that the end of my marriage would be handled with mutual respect and dignity." No such luck. In the complaint, which leaves one with an unexpected feeling--it could be sympathy--for Minnelli, Gest alleges:

THAT at the time of the marriage, Minnelli's career was "eclipsed, she was an alcoholic, overweight, unable to be effectively merchandised."

THAT Minnelli beat him, bit her security manager in the chest and slipped on a bathroom tile, sustaining an eye injury later explained to the press as a cancerous growth that was removed.

THAT during one bout, Gest shouted, "Liza, stop it, stop it!" When an aide intervened, Minnelli said, "My husband is using me to be a star. I am the star."

THAT the pummelings left him reliant on 11 prescription medicines for vertigo, mood disorders and "scalp tenderness." (The complaint does not note how many drugs both of them may have been on when he decided to enter the marriage.)