Liza Minnelli is revealing painful details about the collapse of her first marriage in her new memoir, “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!”
According to Page Six, the 79-year-old entertainer wrote that she discovered her husband, singer and songwriter Peter Allen, having sex with another man — a moment she says left her stunned and heartbroken.
“This was a betrayal of our marital intimacy,” the “Cabaret” star wrote. “Our deepest trust in each other, and at first I couldn’t process it. It was impossible for my heart to absorb what my eyes had seen.”
Minnelli said the situation unfolded quickly after she walked in on the encounter.
“After the other gentleman quickly dressed and disappeared,” she wrote, she remained frozen before Allen approached her.
The two embraced and broke down emotionally.
“He felt terrible and told me for the first time, ‘Liza, I love you more than anyone in the world and I’m gay,’” Minnelli recalled.
Despite the discovery, Minnelli wrote that the couple had previously shared a strong relationship.
She said they had an “active and very fulfilling sexual life,” but Allen explained that he was also attracted to men.
“He said he had tried desperately to be monogamous, but his feelings for men would not go away,” Minnelli wrote. “It was a fact of his life and now mine.”
Minnelli said the moment did not immediately destroy their bond.
“In that sad moment of discovery, we still felt enormous love for each other. Neither of us wanted the marriage to end.”
The pair met through Minnelli’s mother, Judy Garland, and their relationship quickly grew serious. They became engaged in 1965 and married two years later.
Minnelli also revealed that during her engagement to Allen, she had a brief romance with French singer Charles Aznavour after meeting him at a cocktail party.
“I loved him,” she wrote. “I also loved Peter Allen. We weren’t yet married. Was life a delicious confusion? Yes. Did I follow my heart? Guilty as charged.”
Minnelli and Allen eventually divorced in 1974 but remained close in the years that followed.
She said they maintained a deep “spiritual connection” and continued to respect each other long after their marriage ended.
Allen later had a long-term relationship with model Gregory Connell before he died in 1992 at age 48 from AIDS-related cancer.
