Mixed Memories from a Night with Celebrities
Melissa Gilbert and Andrew McCarthy have different recollections of a memorable evening in the 1980s, particularly about McCarthy’s rumored affair with Liza Minnelli.
In her 2010 memoir, A Prairie Story, Gilbert, now 62, recounted a surreal dinner with McCarthy, her then-boyfriend Rob Lowe, and Lowe’s agent Michael Black at Spago’s. During their meal, Minnelli suddenly arrived at their table, followed closely by the quiet presence of Michael Jackson.
As dessert wrapped up, the conversation stalled, and according to Gilbert, “the table fell silent, and that’s when Michael finally spoke the only words he would say for the rest of the evening.” He casually invited them to his place, mentioning his pet llama.
The group then went to Sammy Davis Jr.’s house, leaving Jackson behind, presumably to tend to his llama. The night eventually drifted to Black’s apartment, where Gilbert noted that McCarthy and Minnelli began flirting.
Recently, Page Six caught up with McCarthy, now 63, during a press event for an Off-Broadway revival. Naturally, they asked him about Gilbert’s intriguing account from her book.
“I wanted to be friends with Liza Minnelli, but I didn’t,” McCarthy confessed, though he did recognize parts of the evening did happen as described. He remembered dining with Gilbert, Lowe, and Black at Spago’s, where he ended up next to Minnelli, and enjoying drinks at Davis Jr.’s afterward. Interestingly, he didn’t mention Jackson being there at all.
“It was an incredible night,” he reminisced. “That’s when I should have quit show business. We didn’t do any singing; we just drank a lot. Sammy was sober but played the bartender.”
By the end of the night, McCarthy found himself unable to drive home. “Liza gave me a ride,” he shared. “She was very nice to me. They were both generous and kind. I remember Sammy saying, ‘I’ve got my eye on you young cat, I like what you’re doing!’” The gathering, merging the Rat Pack and the Brat Pack, was quite something.
Minnelli’s publicist declined to comment on whether any romantic interaction occurred between her and McCarthy that night.
