David Gest, a producer and reality TV star who was briefly married to Liza Minnelli, was found dead in a hotel room in London on Tuesday. He was 62, and no cause of death was given. London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement that they were called to "the Four Seasons hotel, in Westferry Circus to reports of an unexplained death of a man in his 60s," and that "this is being treated as non-suspicious at this stage." Gest's friend and former body guard, Imad Handi, confirmed Gest's death, calling him "a natural star and a genuine celebrity."
Gest was born in Los Angeles in 1953, and was a childhood friend of Michael Jackson, the best man in his 2002 wedding to Minnelli. His career included stints as a music video and TV producer, and one of his projects, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, was one of the most-watched specials in U.S. music history, BBC News reports. Gest and Minnelli separated after a year and divorced in 2007, and Gest sued Minnelli for $10 million, claiming physical abuse.
Gest parlayed his fame into spots on the British reality TV shows I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother. When he died, Gest was preparing to tour Britain with a new show, "David Gest Is Not Dead but Alive With Soul," named after a recent incident on Celebrity Big Brother where fellow contestant Angela Bowie told Tiffany Pollard that Angela's ex-husband, David, had died and Pollard assumed she meant Gest, who was ill in bed. Best left the Celebrity Big Brother house after just 13 days due to medical reasons.
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