How Judy Garland’s hell of being groped by munchkins then drugged and starved on Wizard of Oz set led to tragic downfall
THIS weekend marks the 80th anniversary of one of Hollywood's best loved films: The Wizard of Oz.
But the 1939 Technicolor classic has a dark history, which many say led to its legendary leading lady, Judy Garland, becoming a drug addict and taking her own life at the age of 47.
Groped by munchkins, drugged on set and put on a strict prisoner-style diet, Garland went through hell making the film when she was just 16 years old.
Her family even blame her following drug addiction and alcoholism on working on the iconic musical film, where she was sexually assaulted by numerous men.
Aged just 10, her pushy stage mum Ethel Gumm cruelly drugged her with stimulants so she would stay awake for 72-hour shoots - and then force fed her sleeping pills to knock her out when they didn't need her.
Molested by munchkins
From the moment she began filming the show, Judy had to deal with horrors on set.
She was often groped by male actors playing munchkins during the making of the movie, according to the third of her five husbands, Sidney Luft.
In 2005, a posthumous memoir by Luft was published in which he recalled: "They thought they could get away with anything because they were so small.
"They would make Judy’s life miserable on set by putting their hands under her dress.
"The men were 40 or more years old."
And it wasn't just her co-stars who she was sexually abused by.
In a biography it was revealed that teenage starlet was repeatedly propositioned for sex by executives at film studio, MGM.
Studio boss Louis B. Mayer would compliment Garland's voice by putting his hand on her left breast pretending to touch her heart, which is where he said she sang from.
She eventually told him to stop his creepy advances and, according to the biography, Mayer cried and said he loved her.
Execs demanded she have sex with them
Garland also said she was abused by another executive at the studio who she never named.
She recalled being summoned to his office where he demanded she have sex with him.
Garland said the situation was presented as "Yes or no, right now — that was his style".
She refused him, and described him "screaming" and threatening to ruin her career when she did so.
Garland recalled him telling her: "I'll ruin you and I can do it.
"I'll break you if it's the last thing I do."
Given drugs at the age of 10
Ex-husband Sid's biography also told how Judy, who became a lifelong drug user after the film wrapped, was first given uppers by MGM studio executives.
Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor were also reportedly fed the pills to make sure Hollywood child stars could endure gruelling hours.
Sid said of Garland: "She was married to the drugs before she met me, and she never really got divorced."
She left her first husband, composer David Rose, in 1945 after he pressured her to have an abortion.
And things fell apart with her second husband, director Vincent Minnelli (with whom she had her famous daughter Liza), as her use of drugs became more frequent.
The amphetamines that she'd been given as a girl would turn from a professional obligation into a recreational pleasure over time.
Sid wrote: "Judy admitted she felt she grew inches when she took Benzedrine."
Only given soup and lettuce
And it wasn't just to keep her awake that MGM plied Garland with drugs.
Her weight was also horrifically scrutinised by the studio and they wanted her to slim down, often taking food away from her.
And the MGM cafeteria was reportedly instructed to only give her food like soup and lettuce, no matter what she ordered.
So as well as helping her cope with 18-hour days six day days a week making The Wizard of Oz, amphetamines were pushed on her to kill her appetite and lose weight.
It wasn't long before she was in a cycle of taking stimulants to get through the days and sleeping pills to switch off at night.
And the psychological damage done by the focus on criticising her weight during her formative years would leave her feeling anxious about her body for the rest of her life.
Cut her own throat - then covered it with pearls
By the time she was an adult, she suffered horribly with insomnia.
Sid said that she would roam their house at night before knocking herself out with powerful barbiturates.
Even when they slept in the same bed Sid said he could tell his wife was "on something".
Her drug use severely worsened after the birth of her first child, Lorna, in 1952, when she fell into a serious post-natal depression.
It was shortly after that Sid received a phone call telling him Garland had been found unresponsive on their bathroom floor.
He wrote: "I could feel my heart in my temples. Judy was wedged in between the bath and the door. I finally got it open and picked her up.
"Blood, bright red in sharp contrast to the whiteness of her skin, was pouring out of her neck.
"Judy had cut her throat with a razor blade."
Doctors rushed to her house to stop the bleeding and perform an emergency blood transfusion in her bedroom.
The next day, Sid said: "She quickly ordered a three-string pearl choker from Saks and she never took it off. She wore it to bed."
'She was bleeding profusely'
Years later she attempted suicide again, this time while performing in Washington DC.
Sid had arranged for her to perform at a series of concerts which she didn't want to do.
On the fifth morning of the tour, Garland deliberately hurt herself.
Sid said: "When Judy came out in her short white lace negligee, her arms were in front of her and she said, ‘Look, darling, what I’ve done!’
"Her wrists had been slashed and she was bleeding profusely."
Again, doctors patched her up and again she chose to hide her wounds with pearl bracelets.
'They had jammed drugs down her throat'
In 1954, Judy was in A Star Is Born with James Mason.
At this point she was virtually incapable of performing without drugs and Sid arranged for her doctor to keep her on "maintenance medication."
Sid reflected: "In hindsight, I was enabling a lesser version of what MGM had blatantly and inhumanly jammed down her throat."
He eventually tried to stop her taking drugs altogether but would repeatedly find them stashed in their home.
In later years she was even prescribed Ritalin to calm her down, despite the drug normally being given to children with ADHD.
She eventually split with husband Sid in 1965 — she said he had been physically abusive, which he denied, saying her addictions to drugs, dieting and suicide attempts crippled the marriage.
Garland married twice more in her four remaining years.
The first wedding was to actor Mark Herron in Las Vegas in 1965, but they too divorced in 1969 after he was physically abusive to her.
She was married to musician Mickey Deans in 1969, just three months before he found her dead on their bathroom floor.
According to Deans' biography, the couple had met in a New York hotel room when he was posing as a doctor — in order to deliver her stimulant pills.
most read in world news
Tragic death
On June 22 1969 she died of an accidental overdose whilst in London at the home she moved into with Deans.
Sid said: "They say Judy had thirty or forty Seconal next to her bed. A lot of people took advantage of her.
"The years of abuse had taken their toll on her tiny frail body."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.