Liza Minelli’s “passionate” affair with Martin Scorsese quickly escalated into a drug-fueled, “self-destructive obsession.”
In her memoir, “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!,” the 79-year-old actress and singer opened up about her past romance with the famed director during their time together on the 1977 movie musical, “New York, New York.”
“We couldn’t get enough of each other and it was the worst-kept secret on the set,” Minelli, who was married to Jack Haley at the time, wrote of Scorsese, who was married to writer Julia Cameron.
“I got lost in amour fou, the French term for a passionate relationship that becomes a self-destructive obsession,” Minnelli wrote. “The relationship becomes a powerful, hypnotic drug in every way.”
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Before she knew it, the pair were participating in recreational drug use.
“We were constant companions and I was right there beside him,” said Minelli. “Line by line, Marty claimed the drug helped his creative juices. Sure it did. Or is that just one more fabulous lie you tell yourself when you’re in the grip of substance use? Only Marty can answer that for himself.
“We were on a runaway train,” Minnelli wrote. “Nothing good could come of it. It got worse.”
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Minelli later detailed an encounter she had with Scorsese after she and Haley ran into the director in Greenwich Village.
“How can you do this to me. How can you do this to me!” Scorsese asked Minelli, who admitted to having an affair with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the time of her romance with Scorsese.
“Jack and I quickly walked away, trying to laugh it off. It would be impossible to forget. Marty was incensed. I’d been outed. Mikhail got caught up in a messy situation. And Jack now had a good reason for us to part,” Minelli added.
Minelli and Haley Jr. divorced in 1979.
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After “New York, New York” wrapped, Minelli recalled recruiting Scorsese to direct her new Broadway musical, “The Act,” a decision she quickly regretted.
“He was in over his head. Our out-of-town reviews were scathing,” said Minelli, who had to fire Scorsese. “I did what had to be done. It damn near killed me and broke my heart.
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“[Scorsese’s] steady diet of hostility and substances certainly wasn’t helping matters. As it turns out, his life was in jeopardy, and he is now able to admit that he ended up in the hospital cheating death.
“He kicked drugs and booze out of his life and became one of America’s most beloved filmmakers,” she added.
Minelli recalled running into Scorsese nearly 40 years later at the Academy Awards, a reunion that wasn’t welcomed by all.
“Not all of the bad feelings have healed,” she wrote. “Years later, I saw Marty at the Oscars ceremony in 2014 and walked up to say hello. Unfortunately, he turned away from me. Very sad.”
