Liza On Autopsy: All Hell Will Break Loose

Liza Minnelli joined The Early Show by phone from Paris Friday to share her memories of Michael Jackson.

Speaking about the media frenzy and the next stage in this unfolding event, Minnelli told Harry Smith, "All those who knew him well really know what he was like, and I'm sure that now the accolades are going and I'm sure when the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose. So thank God we're celebrating him now."

Minelli didn't elaborate on what she meant by that.

Speaking as a friend, she said, "I'm just devastated. He was such a good friend. And he was just a really splendid man. And a brilliant performer who changed theatrical history. I will miss him, I cannot tell you. I saw him all the time. He was so fascinated with everything. He wanted to learn. Once a week he'd have dinner - when he was in Hollywood he'd have dinner with Gregory Peck, and then another night he'd have dinner with Fred Astaire, and another night with Gene Kelly," Minnelli told Smith.

"And then every Tuesday night we had dinner. He was passionate about learning and about everything. My father adored him. He knew every word of every song in every film my father ever made. He burst into triplets and three little unexpected children, that thing when he was around my dad. He was so curious. When I took him to Martha Graham's for rehearsal, he was absolutely riveted and we went home, and he wanted to learn all of those steps. So I taught him. He was such a student of everything. The spacewalk was really done in vaudeville, but he took it and changed it and made it his own. If you notice in his early videos, his feet are kind of flat. You know, when he has the diamond outfit on. His feet are kind of flat. As you go on, he took Gene Kelly's socks, threw some glitter on them, and wore those. So you saw them all the time," she remembered.

"He wore just a silk shirt on stage. He didn't need anything," Minnelli said. "He was passionate about learning. And we used to dance together all the time. It just. I loved him. He was just sensational. He's a great, great friend and a curious, curious man. And a dear, dear friend."