Liza Minnelli's New Memoir Shades Lady Gaga Over Oscars Incident
Liza Minnelli’s new memoir sheds some light on her appearance at the 2022 Oscars.
At the Academy Awards four years ago, Liza teamed up with Lady Gaga to announce the winner of that year’s Best Picture prize.
The Cabaret star appeared on stage in a wheelchair, and when she appeared to struggle with her portion of the presenting, Gaga stepped in to reassure her: “I got you.”
A newly-published excerpt of Liza’s book Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! in People magazine sees the EGOT recipient reflecting on this, confirming long-held rumours that she hadn’t wanted to appear in a wheelchair, having previously requested that she appear on a director’s chair.
The passage reads: “I was inexplicably ordered – not even asked – to sit in a wheelchair or not appear at all. I was told it was because of my age, and for safety reasons, because I might slip out of the director’s chair, which was bullshit.
“I will not be treated this way, I said. My co-presenter insisted she would not go on stage with me unless I was in a wheelchair. I was heartbroken.”
The excerpt continues: “I was much lower down than I would have been in the director’s chair. Now I couldn’t easily read the teleprompter above me. How would you feel if you were wheeled out, against your will, to perform in front of a live audience, and unable to see clearly?
“So when I stumbled over a few words, Gaga, who was at my side, didn’t miss a beat to play the kindhearted hero for all the world to see. ‘I got you,’ she said, leaning down over me.”
In apparent shade towards Gaga, Liza’s book claims the Poker Face singer later paid a visit to the screen legend’s dressing room to check on her.
The passage concludes: “I looked at her and said simply, ‘I’m a big fan’. I learned this lesson years ago from Mama and Papa. At a moment of high stress, you stay gracious.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Lady Gaga’s team for comment.
Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! was written in collaboration with Heidi Evans and Josh Getlin.
In a statement to People in 2024, Liza claimed she’d been inspired to tell her own story after “a sabotaged appearance at the Oscars”, “a film with twisted half-truths” and “a recent miniseries that just didn’t get it right” made by “people who didn’t know my family, and don’t really know me” left her feeling “mad as hell”.
Liza’s book will be published on 10 March.