The Oscar-winning “Cabaret” star shares new insight into her famous mother’s struggles with addiction before her overdose at age 47.

Judy Garland tossed pill bottles into NYC river to prove sobriety to husband, says daughter Liza Minnelli

The Oscar-winning “Cabaret” star shares new insight into her famous mother’s struggles with addiction before her overdose at age 47.

By Kathleen Perricone

September 11, 2026 9:43 p.m. ET

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Judy Garland with first husband Vincente Minnelli. Credit:

- Liza Minnelli shared insight into her mother Judy Garland’s struggles with drug abuse in a new social media post.

- According to a letter written by her father, Vincente Minnelli, Garland tossed pill bottles into an NYC river on their honeymoon to prove her sobriety.

- “My mother was so brave,” said Liza, “and I am proud of her every day of my life.”

Judy Garland’s struggle with substance abuse is well documented, but now her daughter is sharing fresh insight into the Hollywood star’s private battle.

Liza Minnelli announced a new online feature Thursday, promising to regularly post personal stories from the past to give her followers “a glimpse of what really happened.” The *Cabaret* star kicked it off with a letter from her father, Vincente Minnelli, who directed Garland in 1944’s *Meet Me in St. Louis*. The couple married the following year and welcomed Liza, their only child, in 1946 before separating in 1950.

Decades later, “I asked my father to put pen to paper about his love affair with Mama,” explained Liza. And what he wrote revealed a deeper devotion between the couple.

Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland with their daughter Liza Minnelli in 1950, shortly before their separation.

“We loved each other so very much,” began Minnelli, who directed Garland in five films. “Before we were married, your mother told me, ‘Vincente, I know I’m taking too many pills. But, with you to protect me, I’ll stop. And I don’t give a good god damn what anybody else thinks.’”

Garland proved it with a grandiose gesture on their honeymoon in New York City.

While the newlyweds walked along the East River, “Your mother reached into an elegant handbag that I had gifted her and said, ‘Darling, please hold my hand,’” Minnelli recounted to Liza. “She grabbed me so tightly that her fingernails broke the skin. Out of the handbag, Judy pulled bottles of prescription medicine. With a dramatic sweep of her arm, all the bottles went flying into the river.”

Until their daughter was born nine months later, he wrote, “it was the best present of my life.”

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Liza refrained from sharing more of her father’s letter, explaining it was “too intimate” to be publicized. But she hoped it would be enough to provide “insight into how hard, how long my mother fought the disease of Substance Use Disorder.”

In 1969, at the age of 47, Garland died of an accidental overdose while in London with her fifth husband, musician Mickey Deans. “My mother was so brave,” wrote Liza, “and I am proud of her every day of my life.”

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The EGOT recipient continued her Instagram post, which featured photos from her parents’ 1945 wedding, with the story of her own birth — and her mother’s dedication to keeping her honeymoon promise to Minnelli.

“Mama had very narrow hips making natural childbirth impossible,” explained Liza. “[And] as they started the anesthesia for the C-Section, Mama cried out, ‘I haven’t taken anything! Please make sure the medicine doesn’t hurt my baby.’”

She continued, “God, is it any wonder that I love my parents so very much? I don’t give a god damn what anybody else thinks. I had, for me, the best parents in the world. My parents always said, despite the films and love they made, I was their best production.”

Liza concluded her post with a jab at the man credited for being the root cause of her mother’s issues: MGM boss Louis B. Mayer.

Captioning a photo of the studio exec standing beside Garland and Minnelli as they cut their wedding cake, Liza wrote: “Louie B. Mayer, uninvited, looking like an owl.”

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