Three years ago, Liza Minnelli and her Z-list celebrity husband filed for divorce, with court papers stating as always, 'irreconcilable differences'. The two spent a little over a year as a married couple and, ever since July 2003, they are engaged in one of the most bitter divorces showbiz has ever seen.

And, last week, the former Minnelli-Gest 'family' hit rock bottom, with allegations at the court hearing that he was trying to poison her, while she had a sexually transmitted disease (which did not come from him).

Liza (60) stated in court papers that she had been living 'in terror' during the last months of their marriage, because she was sure that her husband wanted to 'poison [her] with drugs'. To answer the allegations, David (53) said that the actress/singer was infected with a sexually transmitted disease prior to marrying him.

'David was devastated when he found [this] out a year after they had been together and six months after they were married', Gest's attorney said. If the former husband can prove that Minnelli got the herpes simplex from a prior relationship and did not make her condition known to him, he can cite fraud and have the prenuptial contract declared null and void.

Until then, Gest is suing the star for £7 million and threatens to make his former wife's infection a strong point in the legal action. But the case will not be as easily closed as the parties hope, given that Minnelli's legal team stated that, in fact, it was David who breached the prenuptial agreement. Both feuding former spouses are to appear in court again at the end of the week.