Minnelli to wed for fourth time

Liza Minnelli has put her health fears behind her

Academy Award-winning actress and singer Liza Minnelli has announced she is to get married for a fourth time.

The 55-year-old is to wed David Gest, the man who produced Michael Jackson's comeback concert in September.

She told the New York Post: "I'm so happy, darling."

Minnelli is planning to marry in New York's St Patrick's Cathedral, said the newspaper.

She is said to have told customers at a beauty salon in the city that she wants her dress to have a train "a mile long", and that she wants to adopt four children with her husband-to-be.

Health

The star of Cabaret has battled against health problems over the last few years.

She has undergone back surgery and two hip replacements and was forced to cancel 14 concerts in 2000.

Minnelli made her first public appearance after the treatment in New York on 7 September, at Jackson's comeback concert.

She then made her own return to showbusiness at the Madison Square Gardens venue, singing You Are Not Alone.

Minnelli's mother Judy Garland starred in The Wizard of Oz

Minnelli was born in March 1946 to screen legend Judy Garland.

It was in 1972 that she emerged from the shadow of her mother with a show-stopping performance in the hit musical Cabaret, a role which would earn her an Academy Award.

Husbands

Her first husband was Australian singer and songwriter Peter Allen in 1967 but their relationship ended in divorce seven years later.

Husband number two, filmmaker Jack Haley, lasted five years.

After their divorce, she married sculptor Mark Gero, but after 13 years together that too collapsed, and since 1992 she has been single.