Bella Abzug’s Family Says ‘Con Artist’ Documentarian Screwed Them Over
The daughters of late congresswoman Bella Abzug allege the documentarian behind a film about the feminist icon is a fraud who duped her and a slew of famous family friends—including Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand, Nancy Pelosi, and others—into participating in a project she now disavows as having done “irreparable harm” to her mom’ legacy.
In a series of court filings filed by Abzug’s estate and published first by The Daily Beast, Isobel Jo “Liz” Abzug and Eve Abzug claim filmmaker Jeff L. Lieberman, the writer/director/producer behind the lauded 2023 doc Bella!, made numerous promises to obtain exclusive interviews, rare archival footage, and one-of-a-kind personal keepsakes, then ghosted her without following through on any of them.
Lieberman also iced the family out of their share of, among other things, lucrative television licensing fees, a six-figure prize bestowed by the Library of Congress, neglected to invite them to premieres, award shows, and related events, and has refused to list Liz as an executive producer on the film, as agreed, according to a complaint made public on Wednesday.