Liza Minnelli Said She Wanted to ‘Protect’ Princess Diana During Their Friendship

Princess Diana touched the lives of many people, including Liza Minnelli. Minnelli said she ran into Diana many times at events, and they formed a friendship. Both women were under pressure from outside forces, and Minnelli said her instinct was always to protect Diana.

Liza Minnelli was friends with Princess Diana

Minnelli has been surrounded by famous people since childhood, and her career in the film industry ultimately brought her into the same room as Diana.

“I met Princess Diana at movie premieres, fundraisers and the like, and we became friends,” she wrote in her book Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! (via The Times). “She and I fiercely guarded each other’s privacy. We’d catch up and meet for tea. Sometimes she’d come to my hotel and we’d have lunch.”

Minnelli said she understood the pressure Diana was under from the royal family, and she wanted to protect her.

“My instinct was always to protect her,” she wrote. “She was a great lady, under siege from the moment she entered the royal family. We talked girl talk, and could have spent weeks together.”

She believed that the pressures they both faced helped them better understand each other.

“Diana spoke candidly about the pressures she was facing, in her married life and as a member of the royal family,” she wrote. “I told her about my own experiences. It was honest and real. We understood each other.”

Minnelli said that after Diana’s death, she learned that a picture of the two of them was on her mantelpiece.