David Alan Gest was an American producer and television personality. Gest produced the television special in 2001, which was the last reunion of Michael Jackson and the Jacksons coming 17 years after their previous reunion. Gest appeared on the 2006 series of the British reality television showI'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Gest appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in the UK in 2016, but elected to leave the show after 13 days due to "medical reasons", as cited by Channel 5. He frequently made tabloid headlines during his marriage with Liza Minnelli. He founded the American Cinema Awards Foundation in 1983.
Career
Early success
At the age of 17, Gest landed a job as a publicist at London Recordsby passing himself off as 24. Nearly a year later, he was promoted to national director of publicity and transferred over to the New York office of the label. Singer Al Green encouraged him to start a P.R. and management firm, and at age 18, he created David Gest & Associates. Green became his first client and mentor. Shortly after, he had 25 artists on his roster and generated a lot of success.
Later years
Gest finished in fourth place on the 2006 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, a day before the show finished. Two days later, Gest appeared on the Royal Variety Show in London in front of Prince Charles, for which he received a standing ovation. Another two days later, a controversy arose on the cover of two major UK papers stating that more than 30,000 text votes were not counted in Gest's favour when the network ITV had a voting glitch. This would have changed the outcome of the show but Gest declined a recount. In January 2007, Gest appeared as a judge on ITV1's Soapstar Superstar, for one night replacing Michael Ball who was coaching the singers. Later that month it was announced that Gest had signed a one-year deal with ITV to appear in his own reality series entitled This Is David Gest, which began on April 22, 2007. He also took cameras for a rare glimpse of the Jackson family house in Encino, California, where he met Tito Jackson and his children as well as matriarch Katherine Jackson. He was one of the four judges on ITV1's entertainment series Grease Is the Word and also starred on Greased Lightnin. Gest paid ITV to be released from his contract early and ITV replied that they had no idea what to do with him. Gest was quick to say that he wanted to be released: "My lawyers negotiated an early release so I could host The Friday Night Project on Channel 4", Gest told The Sun.
Gest was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles and grew up in Southern California. Gest and Liza Minnelli were married on March 16, 2002, and separated in July 2003. In October 2003 he sued her for $10 million claiming that she had been violent and physically abusive during their marriage, behavior the affidavit blamed on Minnelli's persistent alcoholism. Minnelli denied the accusations, claiming Gest was simply after her money. The suit was dismissed in September 2006 for lack of triable issue of fact. Gest was a close friend of Michael Jackson and after Jackson's death, he produced and starred in a documentary film about Jackson's life called, . In 2009, Gest sold his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee and auctioned his rock memorabilia to put in an offer on a five-bedroom Victorian townhouse in Cambridge, England. The owners, however, took the house off the market and Gest rented a three-bedroom house in St John's Wood, North London. The same year he was the guest on Celebrity Fantasy Homes with Gaby Roslin.
Death
On April 12, 2016, Gest was found dead in his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in East London's Canary Wharf district, at the age of 62. His death was described by police as involving no suspicious circumstances. It was later reported that he had died from a stroke. After his death, it was revealed that Gest had been addicted to gambling; friends reportedly said that he had accumulated debts of up to £500,000 in the months before his death. Gest's funeral service was held at Golders Green Crematorium, North London on April 29, 2016. His ashes were scattered in York, England.
