Liza Minnelli is shedding light on her 2022 Oscars appearance alongside Lady Gaga, insisting that she was forced into using a wheelchair as a co-presenter, in her new memoir.
Years after the appearance — and following similar claims about the event from her friend, pianist Michael Feinstein — Minnelli, 79, claimed that she was originally supposed to sit in a director’s chair to present the award, but the plan changed without much explanation.
“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,” read the excerpt of her forthcoming memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, obtained by People.
“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 EGOT-winning actor and daughter of the Judy Garland continued.
“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.”
Minnelli then claimed that Lady Gaga visited her in her dressing room after their appearance to check in.
“I looked at her and said simply, ‘I’m a big fan,’” Minnelli wrote. “I learned this lesson years ago from Mama and Papa. At a moment of high stress, you stay gracious.”
The Independent has contacted representatives of Lady Gaga for comment.
Feinstein previously made similar claims, saying on The Jess Cagle Show after Minnelli’s appearance — honoring the 50th anniversary of Cabaret — that she was brought on stage in a wheelchair against her wishes.
“She was sabotaged,” said Feinstein at the time. “She said, ‘I don’t want people to see me limping out there.’ She said, ‘You know, I wanna look good. I don’t want people to worry about me.’”
Feinstein then added that plans were changed “literally five minutes before she went on,” after “everything that had happened earlier” when Will Smith jumped on to the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock.
“The stage manager said, ‘Well, she has to be in a wheelchair’ and Liza pleaded. She said, ‘No, I will not be seen in a wheelchair in front of everybody. I will not do this. I refused to do this,’” Feinstein claimed. “And they said, ‘Well, it’s either that or nothing.’”
Minnelli announced in 2024 that her memoir would be published spring 2026 after being “mad as hell” that previous documentaries on her life “didn’t get it right.” Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! will be released March 10.
