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Tuesday, July 13, 2004
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Gest Fears For Friend Jackson
It's a glimpse inside David Gest's private world,
as Liza Minnelli's ex opens his home -- and his heart -- only
to "Extra."
In his first interview since talking to Stone
Phillips back in February, Gest told us of his ill-fated marriage:
"I'll always love Liza."
Gest says he's been overwhelmed with support since then, although he knows that some viewers were surprised by his claims -- disputed by Minnelli -- that Liza beat him.
"People say to me, ‘Why didn't you walk out of the room?'
Well, if she would have jumped from a window, with two bottles
of vodka in her, they would have said, ‘Ah, he killed her,'"
Gest said. "A real man doesn't leave somebody who he loves
alone. You just take it."
Just as his marriage to Liza has floundered, so have the fortunes
of his best man, Michael Jackson. With the singer's trial approaching,
Gest harbors a horrible fear: "If he is convicted, which
I hope he's not, he'll kill himself."
David calls the charges against the singer "ridiculous,"
but thinks he knows the reason the case is proceeding. "I
feel sorry because this District Attorney is out to get him,"
Gest insisted. "How could someone like Michael Jackson
survive in jail?"
As for himself, Gest said he's shed 67 pounds in five months,
using the same low-carb diet he famously used to transform Minnelli.
He's also gotten rid of something else: a troubling dependence
on painkillers. Gest admitted that at one point, he took up
to 14 pills a day.
Now Gest is getting back to his roots by producing music. "Extra"
was there as he went to work with his old buddy, legendary Al
Green, in a Memphis studio.
Gest is busy grooming new talent, buying a new home and even
dating again. "Life to me right now is a fresh start,"
he said. "I'm going forward and not looking back."
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