A black and white picture of Liza Minnelli holding her collar.

Notable People

Liza Minnelli Reveals She Hid ‘Boxes of Pills and Bottles of Booze’ Before 1984 Rehab

Liza Minnelli went to rehab several times over the years. She said that she was hiding pills and alcohol in her home before this.

by Emma McKee

Published on August 30, 2026

2 min read

Liza Minnelli said she was into drugs before a 1984 rehab stay

During Minnelli’s years in New York City, she said her friend group openly used drugs. Eventually, she was hiding substances around her house.

“In New York I had surrounded myself with people who at worst encouraged me to use drugs, or at best didn’t encourage me to stop,” she wrote in her book Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! “I had boxes of pills and bottles of booze stashed away in my co-op apartment. With no one watching, I self-medicated myself to foggy perfection, to a place where I felt nothing or no one could hurt me.”

She said she hoped to escape this lifestyle, so she moved to Los Angeles. Ultimately, she said she fell into the same habits once she got there.

“Now, in California, I got lost in the same fog. It was the same old bulls***, this time with more sunshine,” she wrote. “That’s one of the reasons I checked into rehab as quickly as I did. I was out of options.”

In 1984, Minnelli checked into the Betty Ford Center despite feeling “f***ing scared to death.”

Liza Minnelli went to rehab for the final time in 2015

Minnelli went to rehab several times over the years. She checked in for the final time in 2015. She said she has been sober since then.

“I realized that maybe my nine lives were up. These days, if someone offers me a glass of champagne at a party, I thank them, and put it down without a sip,” she wrote in her memoir, adding, “Medication is a different story. I still have lower back pain, and I do get anxious from time to time. But the drugs are now strictly controlled. And baby, there’s no going back.”

She said she inherited problems with addiction from her mother, Judy Garland

In 1969, Minnelli’s mother, Judy Garland, died of an accidental overdose. In the aftermath, a doctor prescribed Minnelli Valium. Minnelli said this became a problem for her, just as it had been for her mother.

“What began as a one-day blessing soon turned into a habit, then a full-blown case of addiction in the years ahead,” she wrote. “It was a final gift, a genetic inheritance from Mama I could not escape.”

Before getting sober for the final time, Minnelli explained that she navigated life through a “haze of substances. Benzodiazepines. Barbiturates. Amphetamines. Cocaine.”