Liza Minnelli Said Her ‘Final Gift’ From Judy Garland Was Something She ‘Could Not Escape’

After Judy Garland died in 1969, doctors prescribed her daughter, Liza Minnelli, Valium to help her deal with the loss. Minnelli said that what followed this prescription was years of struggling with addiction. She said that while she initially viewed the drug as a good thing, she came to think of it as one final gift from her mother.

Liza Minnelli spoke about her ‘final gift’ from Judy Garland

In 1969, Garland died of an accidental overdose. A doctor prescribed a 23-year-old Minnelli Valium to help her get through this difficult time. Like her mother, Minnelli soon began to struggle with addiction.

“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 in her memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! (via People). “It was a final gift, a genetic inheritance from Mama I could not escape.”

Minnelli said that she began to navigate fame through a “haze of substances. Benzodiazepines. Barbiturates. Amphetamines. Cocaine.”

She has taken multiple trips to rehab over the years, beginning in 1984. Her final trip to rehab was in 2015.

“I finally understand,” she wrote. “I’ve been waging a war my whole adult with what we now call SUD, substance abuse disorder. It’s a disease, a condition caused by physical and mental wiring that can trigger abuse of drugs and alcohol. I got it from Mama.”

Minnelli now cherishes her sobriety. She added that her life now is “amazing.”

“And if I fall down … in other words, if I fell off the program … I’d go right  back in and fight again,” she wrote. “Don’t give up. There’s fun. There’s good out there.”

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.