Photo: WENN
David Gest, the entertainer and producer who was once married to Liza Minnelli, has been found dead in a London hotel.
The 62-year-old was staying at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf when he was found dead. His friend and former bodyguard Imad Handi confirmed the news in a statement.
“It is with great sadness that I can confirm that David Gest has died today,” read the statement, as BBC News reports. “If I may steal the words of one eminent critic, David was a natural star and a genuine celebrity. I will miss him desperately.”
A subsequent statement from the Metropolitan Police described Gest's death as “unexplained,” revealing, in slightly bizarre language, that “life was pronounced extinct at the hotel."
Gest, who was perhaps best known for his ill-fated marriage to singer Liza Minnelli, was also a producer, and was close friends with Michael Jackson prior to his death in 2009. He recently rose to fame with a new generation of people after appearing on I’m A Celebrity… and Celebrity Big Brother.
Gest’s forthcoming tour was called, rather unfortunately, David Gest Is Not Dead But Alive With Soul, and was due to start in July.
A post-mortem is set to be held “in due course."
