Unwelcome Gest

The chances for a loving reconciliation between divorcing couple Liza Minnelli and David Gest just got even slimmer. In a lawsuit filed last week in a Manhattan court, Minnelli accuses Gest of stealing money as her manager, and asks for at least $2 million in damages, according to court papers posted at thesmokinggun.com. ''Gest put his interests before her interests,'' Minnelli's lawyers wrote. ''Gest constantly berated Minnelli in public and held himself out as 'the star.'''

Gest's lawyer, Raoul Felder, told the Associated Press that his client never stole anything from Minnelli. Felder told AP that instead, Gest had laid out millions of dollars to produce Minnelli's performances, and ended up losing hundreds of thousands. In another lawsuit, filed last month, Gest accused Minnelli of beating him, and said that she gained superhuman strength from drinking alcohol. Minnelli responded with a statement saying she had hoped her marriage would end ''with mutual respect and dignity.'' So far, so good.