Liza Minnelli says love has helped her conquer ill health.
Talking to British reporters with her fiance, David Gest, the 55-year-old singer said that a year ago she was stricken with encephalitis and feared she would not sing again. Now, 90 pounds lighter and back on her feet, she's embarking on a European tour.
"David inspired me. I lost a lot of weight and it helped me because I have a bad back — the thinner I stay the better I feel," she said.
Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli, said she also drew on "an inner strength that my parents gave me, especially my mother."
Gest, a producer, called Minnelli "a remarkable human being."
The couple plans to wed in New York on March 16.