Few people have lived a life quite as kaleidoscopic as Liza May Minnelli’s. In her 80 years, the showbiz icon has been married four times, achieved EGOT status, and cheated death. Now, in her new memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This, she’s recounting all of the ups and downs—and they are plentiful—in her own words.
A nepo long before the term was coined, Liza’s parents were movie star Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli. Born in 1946, she was swiftly brought into the public eye—in fact, as Minnelli tells it in the book, Garland awoke one night while heavily pregnant having divined her daughter’s name. “Liza Minnelli will be her name! It will look terrific on a movie marquee!” Her parents had already decided Liza’s destiny: she would be a star.
On her 80th birthday, we take a closer look at some of Minnelli’s best anecdotes from her memoir.
She was Princess Diana’s confidante
Minnelli and the Princess of Wales crossed paths at many events and concerts in London, but somehow “always found a way to steal time alone.” Their friendship was one they both valued deeply—having bonded over being members of very public families—and they “fiercely guarded each other’s privacy.” Princess Di confided in Minnelli about her marriage woes and nicknamed her “feisty lady.”
“What I remember most is the face of a friend listening to me so carefully,” Minnelli writes in the book. “I have no proof of this, but I deeply believe that if Princess Diana were living, her sons would not be facing their current challenges. They were the most important people in her life, and she was clearly the most important person to them.”
Her relationship with Martin Scorsese was chaotic, to say the least
