UPDATE: Liza Minnelli Resting Comfortably Following Back Surgery

By: Sep. 17, 2014
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As BWW reported last week, Broadway legend Liza Minnelli was forced to miss the funeral of her close friend Joan Rivers due to an injury to her back. "I couldn't go to Joan Rivers' funeral, which I desperately wanted to because I loved her," said Minnelli, adding "I couldn't go because I can't walk. I'm in bed. Going in for surgery. I broke my lower back. Remember a few years ago I was in a wheelchair because I had trouble with my spine? They operated on it then. Well, now, again. They'll have to Fuse it."

The 'Cabaret' star explained that the injury occured as "I was picking up my dogs - and they jumped. And I got TWISTED and fell. I thought it's nothing. But it wasn't nothing. It became something. After an X-ray, seems I busted it and have to have it fused."

Today, the New York Post's Page Six reports that Minnelli is resting comfortably in a California hospital following the surgery. In a statement issued today, the star thanked her fans for the enormous amount of support they have shown throughout her latest health ordeal.

"I am overwhelmed with the amount of love and caring that has been sent my way from all over the world," she shared. The actress is expected to make a full recovery.

Tony and Oscar winning Broadway, film and TV star Liza Minnelli has appeared on Broadway in Flora, The Red Menace -- for which she won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical -- Liza, Chicago, The Act (another Tony win in 1978), The Rink, Victor / Victoria, Minnelli on Minnelli and Liza's at the Palace.

She also received a special Tony Award in 1978 She has appeared as herself on TV in Smash, THE VOICE UK, So You Think You Can Dance, The Apprentice and more, and she is also known for her portrayal of Lucille Austero in the now-Netflix-based comedy series Arrested Development.


The 68-year-old entertainer is one of the few artists to win an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy. Perhaps her greatest role was as cabaret singer Sally Bowles in the film version of "Cabaret."



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