Liza Minnelli's Ex Ben Vereen Wipes Away Tears While Watching Old Footage of Them Together: 'That's My Baby'

Who do people think of when they think of Liza Minnelli's great romances? Depending on their age, Peter Allen, the Australian entertainer she was married to from 1967 to 1974, might come to mind.

Younger fans may immediately recall her much-publicized 2002 wedding to David Guest and their split five years later.

Related: Liza Minnelli's Life in Photos, from Performing with Mom Judy Garland to Earning an EGOT

But along the way, Minnelli had an A-list coupling with the Tony Award-winning stage and screen legend Ben Vereen. He talks about their intense romance in the new documentary Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024 and debuted in select theaters on Jan. 24.

The doc covers Minnelli's four marriages and divorces and her high-profile relationships with stars like Desi Arnaz Jr., Peter Sellers and Martin Scorsese. During the segment dedicated to her marriages and romances, a black and white photo of a topless Vereen embracing a topless Minnelli appears on the screen.

"She said, 'I want to take a picture just or us,' " Vereen, 78, recalls when discussing the genesis of the photo. "I said, 'OK, sure.' So I took off my shirt, she took off her blouse. We took the shot. What the photo is saying is exactly what was in my mind: 'I got you.' "

"Then the next thing I know, it was in Newsweek," he continues, laughing. "All over the world."

The documentary doesn't specify when Vereen and Minnelli, 78, were an item, but it was likely during the mid '70s, between his marriages to Andrea Townsley and Nancy Bruner, and Minnelli's marriages to Allen and Jack Haley Jr., the son of The Wizard of Oz star Jack Haley.

“I’m sure a lot of society was shocked, but it never even entered our bubble," Vereen says of their interracial relationship, which was still somewhat taboo at the time. "It was two people sharing a moment in time. It doesn’t stop to say, ‘Well, what does that White guy think about it?’ Or ‘What’s that Black guy gonna think about it?’ We didn’t care. It was in our world."

He wipes away tears as he looks at an old video of him and Minnelli together. "I guess you’d call it love," he says. "I loved Liza. That’s my baby.”

Vereen's enduring fondness for Minnelli underscores an observation that Allan Lazare, who was friends with Minnelli from 1973 until his death in February 2024, makes about the Oscar winner in the doc: “Some of these relationships didn’t last as relationships, but many of them are long-lasting friendships over the years.”

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is now playing in select theaters.

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