Reality Bites Back as VH1 Countersues Minnelli, Gest

TV music channel VH1 thought it knew how to handle divas. This time, though, star Liza Minnelli wasn’t the problem -- it was her husband.

“Liza & David” was supposed to be a “staged reality” show, akin to “The Osbournes,” that would offer a look inside the newlyweds’ daily lives and run on VH1. But those plans crumbled under David Gest’s eccentric behavior, from his obsession with cleanliness to his refusal to appear on camera unless he was looking his best, the cable network alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Gest’s “unprofessional, erratic and deceitful conduct went so far beyond the acceptable bounds of show business eccentricity,” according to the suit filed in New York Supreme Court.

Among other things, Gest demanded that the network hire his handpicked wardrobe consultant and managed to spend “well over 30 times the amount expended on Ms. Minnelli’s wardrobe,” the suit said. Purchases for Gest included a $3,450 coat.

Neither Minnelli nor Gest could be reached for comment. The couple’s attorney, Michael Sherman, said he had not seen the suit and could not comment.

The suit is a counterclaim to a $23-million lawsuit that Gest lodged in December against MTV Networks, which includes VH1, Remote Productions Inc. and parent company Viacom Inc. Gest alleged the companies breached a July agreement by pulling the plug on the program.

On Thursday, VH1 fired back.

Gest’s desire for control, which led to frequent delays in shooting, led VH1 to conclude that it had no choice but to kill the show, the suit said. VH1 contends that it had lost at least $1.5 million by the time the project was abandoned in late October.

Filming in the couple’s marble-floored Manhattan co-op was arduous, the suit said, in part because of Gest’s fastidiousness: Once, he ordered a production crew member to stick her head in an oven to make sure it was spotless; he wouldn’t let crew members sit on furniture or drink bottled water; and, after discovering a small spot on a piece of furniture, he demanded that it be reupholstered at the network’s expense.

Another time, when holes were drilled into a wall to install cables for recording equipment, Gest demanded that a crew member “stand by the hole with a vacuum cleaner in hand so as to instantly remove any dust,” the suit said.

The VH1 counterclaim says Gest also made increasingly costly demands. He insisted that the network pay to fly his personal assistant and hairstylist to New York from Los Angeles, and spend an additional $60,000 for an apartment for his stylist near the couple’s Upper East Side residence, the suit said.

Gest, the suit said, also tried to exert control over filming. He “repeatedly denied access to Ms. Minnelli; refused to wear a microphone at all times and repeatedly turned it off during filming; ordered other people ... to turn off their microphones,” the suit said.

Gest, a promoter who gained prominence staging Michael Jackson concerts, also “repeatedly refused to appear on camera, delaying shooting for hours, when, in his opinion, he was not looking his best,” the suit said.

Viacom attorney Elizabeth McNamara said, “VH1 does not like to sue its talent. They entered into this action reluctantly after being sued by David Gest.”

Minnelli and Gest were married in March in an extravagant ceremony with an estimated 35-member wedding party, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marisa Berenson and Michael and Tito Jackson. It was the fourth marriage for Minnelli; the first for Gest.

In July, the couple signed on for the “Liza & David” show and assured the companies that they had all the approvals they needed from the co-op board to allow extensive filming. That hadn’t happened, the lawsuit said.

By the time Minnelli gained the approvals in October, the suit said, the shooting schedule was delayed by several weeks and there was a catch: The co-op board would permit only 10 days of shooting a year, far less than the network said it needed.

Although the companies “have worked with the full spectrum of entertainment personalities,” the suit said, “nothing prepared them for the unrelenting obstructionist behavior and utter lack of professionalism displayed by ... Gest.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

As the fur flies . . .

VH1 has shot back at Liza Minnelli and husband David Gest with a countersuit claiming Gest was the reason they canceled the unscripted show OLiza & David.O Here is a look at some of the barbs and jabs:

Minnelli and Gest say . . .

“All of our efforts to make the program a success proved futile with these people [VH1] . . . Obviously, VH1’s idea of reality is not ours.”--Gest, in an Agence France Presse report, Nov. 8

*

“What I’m saying is that I tried very hard to give them my reality, and my reality is kind of interesting.”--Minnelli, on “Larry King Live,” Nov. 20

*

“I think what bothered me the most is they insulted my husband and they insulted our integrity. I know that’s a girly thing to say. That’s how I felt. . . . They interrupted David all the time.”--Minnelli, on “Larry King Live,” Nov. 20

*

VH1 says . . .

“We weren’t given the kind of access and cooperation we needed to make the show work.”--Laura Nelson, VH1 spokeswoman, Oct. 30

*

Gest was “impossible to work with,” a “control freak” and “almost insane.”--From the lawsuit filed by Gest and Minnelli on Dec. 12, attributed to a Viacom official

*

“Gest made repeated and unreasonable financial demands and refused to cooperate with filming unless and until his demands were met, effectively holding the production hostage.”--From the countersuit filed by VH1 on Thursday