EXCLUSIVE: Liza Minnelli's Drug Shock — Hollywood Icon Blasts Showbiz Bosses and Her Grandmother for 'Poisoning' Her Mom Judy Garland With Pills

RadarOnline.com can reveal Liza Minnelli has accused Hollywood executives – and even her own grandmother – of "poisoning" her mother Judy Garland with drugs, alleging the screen legend's lifelong addiction was seeded during her years as a child star.

Minnelli, 79, makes the claims in her forthcoming memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, in which she revisits Garland's rise to fame and devastating decline.

Garland, who died in London in 1969 aged 47 from what was described as an "incautious self-overdosage," had battled dependency on prescription medication for decades.

Minnelli writes the blame lay not only with the pressures of the studio system but with adults entrusted with her mother's care. She says: "They (the Press) said she was a bad mother, that she drank too much, took too many pills, and ignored her family."

But Minnelli continues: "Mama spent millions of dollars in rehab units and hospitals, praying that they could heal her. She had rounds of electroshock therapy. Nothing worked. It's no secret who the culprits were. Industry executives – and, I'm told, my grandmother – had poisoned her with uppers and downers since she was a child star."

Garland was thrust into the spotlight as a teenager, achieving global fame in 1939 playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Under the old Hollywood studio system, young performers were often placed on strict diets and punishing schedules. Garland later spoke publicly about being given amphetamines to maintain energy during long shoots and barbiturates to sleep.

By the time Minnelli was born in 1946, Garland's career had already been shaped by cycles of exhaustion, dependence, and attempted recovery. Minnelli describes her own childhood as one spent managing her mother's crises.

She writes in her new tell-all memoir she became her mother's "caretaker, nurse, doctor, pharmacologist and psychiatrist." The performer adds, "I lost count of the times I called doctors to say she'd run out of pills. I'd say, 'I'm a kid! Please fill my mama's prescription!'''

Garland's struggles intensified after the birth of her daughter, Lorna Luft, now 73, in 1952. Though Garland experienced career revivals – including her Oscar-nominated role in A Star Is Born – her health remained fragile.

Minnelli writes of the aftermath of Garland's death: "I cried for eight straight days." She also reveals a doctor prescribed her Valium ahead of the funeral, saying: "A one-day blessing turned into a habit, then a full-blown case of addiction."

Minnelli herself became an Oscar winner at 26 for Cabaret and went on to enjoy a decades-long career on stage and screen. She also recalls being required to use a wheelchair while presenting at the 2022 Oscars alongside Lady Gaga, 39.

She said: "When I stumbled over a few words, Gaga didn't miss a beat… 'I got you,' she said."

One Hollywood historian said Minnelli's allegations about the exploitation of Garland were "shocking in their bluntness" but "sadly consistent with longstanding accounts of how studios managed young talent."