David Alan Gest (May 11, 1953 – April 12, 2016) was an American entertainer, producer and television personality. Gest produced the highest-rated musical television special in history, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Solo Years in 2001, which was the last reunion of Michael Jackson and the Jacksons in 17 years, and Jackson's last solo concerts. Gest appeared on the 2006 series of the British reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. He became the first American to have three prime-time series in the UK. He appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in the UK in 2016 but due to illness had to leave after 13 days. He frequently made tabloid headlines during his marriage with Liza Minnelli. 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 2 major UK papers stating that more than 30,000 text votes were unjustly not counted in Gest's favor when the network ITV1 had a voting glitch which would have changed the outcome of the show but Gest declined a recount.
Gest was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Southern California where he counted Michael Jackson and his brothers as his childhood best friends. He resided in Memphis, Tennessee, and York, Yorkshire, before his death. Gest admitted that in the 1980s he had two plastic surgery operations from the same plastic surgeon used by Michael Jackson. He stated he regretted the operations but no-one could have stopped him at the time. Gest and Liza Minnelli were married on March 16, 2002, and separated less than a year and a half later 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 money. The suit was dismissed in September 2006 for lack of triable issue of fact. Gest was found dead on April 12, 2016, in his hotel room, of the Four Seasons hotel in London's Canary Wharf district. His death was described by police as involving no suspicious circumstances. He was found dead in a Four Seasons Hotel in East London. The cause of his death is unknown.
