Liza Minnelli has revealed she pushed herself through the pain barrier so she could perform on stage in Scotland again.
The Hollywood legend feared her award-winning showbiz career was over after a freak accident while walking her pet dogs.
The 69-year-old superstar who won an Oscar for the hit 1972 movie Cabaret had to learn to walk again after breaking her back.
But she’s now on the road to recovery and will star in An Evening with Liza Minnelli: Live and In Conversation at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow on September 24.
Fans will have a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with the singer-actress daughter of the late Judy Garland as she talks about her incredible 65-year career. And she can’t wait to appear in Glasgow.
Liza told me: “I have three Schnauzer dogs Oscar, Emilina and Blaze and I was chasing one of them across a marble hallway. I slipped and went up… and then down.
“I broke my spine. It was very painful. I was forced to just lie on my back for three months until it got better. It drove me crazy.”
Liza had surgery and sadly could not attend the funeral of her close friend, comedienne Joan Rivers in New York.
She said: “I had to learn how to walk again. I’m a dancer so I knew how to stretch a little. I slowly got back in shape.
“When the doctor said, ‘You might never dance again’, I was scared to death. For any dancer not to be able to move is horrifying.
“I said to myself, ‘No way. I WILL be able to dance’. You have to go back into training. I had to strengthen my legs through walking. With God’s help, I’m fine. I feel marvellous now just wonderful.”
The star has survived four failed marriages, spells in rehab and numerous health scares but her incredible will and determination has seen her through the bad times.
Liza fell in love with Scotland, aged nine, on set of the classic 1954 movie Brigadoon, directed by her late father Vincente Minnelli.
It starred Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse and tells the story of two friends on a hunting trip to Scotland. They get lost in the woods and stumble across the mystical village of Brigadoon which only rises out of the mists for one single day every 100 years.
Liza told me: “My father bought me a tartan kilt and Gene Kelly taught me how to do the Highland sword dance to the music of the bagpipes. It was the first time I ever heard Scottish music and sampled the culture. When I finally got there to see the real thing I loved the people and the country.”
She can’t wait to return to Glasgow, explaining: “I’ve missed performing the music, the audience and making people a little happier.
“I’ve been in the business for more than 60 years. No audience is ever the same. They’re seeing it for the first time therefore it has to be just as good as you can make it.”
Tickets for Liza’s show at the Clyde Auditorium are available from ticketmaster.co.uk or by phoning 0844 395 4000.
Report by Billy Sloan
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