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Liza Minnelli Defends Using AI to Release First New Song in 13 Years
Liza at the Oscars was a very interesting experience for Liza Minnelli.
In her upcoming memoir Kids, Wait Til You Hear This, the entertainment industry legend recalled being “ordered” to use a wheelchair while presenting the award for Best Picture at the 2022 Academy Awards with Lady Gaga, when she had originally expected to be sitting in a director’s chair.
“I was inexplicably ordered—not even asked—to sit in a wheelchair or not appear at all,” she wrote in an excerpt of her book published by People Feb. 20. “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 bulls--t. 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.”
The now 79-year-old admitted she “was heartbroken” because the wheelchair was lower than the director’s chair would have been and she had difficulties seeing the teleprompter, which caused her to stumble over the intro.
“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?” she wrote. “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.”
Indeed, during the duo’s presentation of Best Picture, Liza—who received a standing ovation when she arrived on stage—attempted to read the teleprompter alongside Lady Gaga, but seemingly had a few issues.
Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
As she stumbled over the words, Gaga leaned over her and gently assured her, “I got you.”
And that wasn’t the only way the “Poker Face” singer showed her support.
In her memoir—out March 10—Liza shared that when Gaga learned how distressed she was by the situation, the “Bad Romance” singer went to her dressing room and asked if she was OK.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
“I looked at her and said simply, ‘I’m a big fan,’” Liza wrote. “I learned this lesson years ago from Mama and Papa. At a moment of high stress, you stay gracious.”
And looking back on it now, the Cabaret star—who grew up in Hollywood as the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli—felt it fitting that the best picture winner that year was CODA.
“I loved the irony of the title for me,” Liza wrote. “Writing my memoir would be my coda, my truth. There’s always a rainbow—if you know where to look for it.”
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