LONDON – David Gest, perhaps best known for his marriage to singer Liza Minelli from 2002 to 2007, was found unresponsive at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf, London.
The Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement, “Police were called at 10:17hrs on Tuesday 12 April to the Four Seasons hotel, in Westferry Circus, E14, to reports of an unexplained death of a man in his 60s.”
The cause of death remains unknown, but police are treating it as non-suspicious.
“It is with great sadness that I can confirm that David Gest has died today,” said friend Imad Handi. “David was truly larger than life. He was not just a huge talent and a dear friend, but a showbiz icon.”
Gest was a housemate in Celebrity Big Brother UK earlier this year. In one episode, fellow housemate Angie Bowie told contestant Tiffany Pollard that David Bowie died. Tiffany Pollard confused Bowie with Gest and began a quest for Gest concluding in her discovery of the misunderstanding. Gest planned to market on this viral moment by embarking on a British theater tour titled David Gest is not Dead but Alive with Soul.
Gest was a childhood friend of the Jackson family. In 2001, he produced the TV special Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration. In 2011, he produced the documentary Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon.
“I know he will be missed by millions of fans around the world, and particularly in Britain, who came to love his charm and blistering one-liners,” said Handi.
Despite being officially married for 5 years, Gest and Minelli separated in 2003, after which he sued her for $10 million alleging that her alcoholism led to physical abuse on her part.
