Few actors have had as much of an impact on cinema as Judy Garland, who transitioned from vaudeville performer to child star to revered adult actress. Garland was only 47 when she passed away in 1969, despite the fact that her career was enormous and it felt like it lasted forever. The fact that the celebrity’s drug addiction started when she was still a little child is equally as awful as the fact that she died tragically from an accidental drug overdose.

It is commonly known that the Wizard of Oz star and other juvenile performers of her day were given stimulant pills so they could work long hours without resting before there were laws and union guidelines to protect them. Garland once alleged that she was given medications to work “72 hours straight” and that this was true.

The actress was originally given pills by her mother, Ethel Marion Milne, when she reached ten years old to keep her awake and afterwards to aid with her sleep, according to the memoir Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland (via Biography). Garland would have been performing with her elder sisters as a vaudeville act at the time, which would have been before she was hired to MGM.

When Garland was 13 years old, she signed with MGM. She co-starred with Mickey Rooney in numerous films as a teenager, including Babes in Arms, Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry, and Love Finds Andy Hardy. The star said that she and Rooney both received drugs while filming.

“They had us working days and nights on end,” she told biographer Paul Donnelley (via The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney). “They’d give us pills to keep us on our feet long after we were exhausted. Then they’d take us to the studio hospital and knock us out with sleeping pills­—Mickey sprawled out on one bed and me on another. Then after four hours they’d wake us up and give us the pep pills again so we could work 72 hours in a row. Half of the time we were hanging from the ceiling but it was a way of life for us.”

“Mean mother”

Garland said in a 1967 interview with Barbara Walters that her mother was a “mean” stage mother.

She claimed that the woman was really envious since she lacked any sort of talent.  “She would stand in the wings, and if I didn’t feel good, she’d say, ‘You get out and sing or I’ll wrap you around the bedpost and break you off short!’ So I’d go out and sing.”

Judy moved to California with her mother, sisters, and older sister when she was just four years old. Ethel’s choice may have been influenced by rumors that her father had extramarital relationships. Judy’s career benefitted greatly from this decision, which was made.

“As I recall, my parents were separating and getting back together all the time. It was very hard for me to understand those things and, of course, I remember clearly the fear I had of those separations,” Garland recalled of the time.

While Garland was a teen celebrity, she was also put on tight diets and required to take medicines to maintain her weight. It’s been said that she occasionally restricted her diet to chicken soup, coffee, cigarettes, and appetite suppressants.

Sidney Luft, Garland’s third husband, said that Garland had “been on Benzedrine or a diet or both for most of her adolescence and adult life” (via People). “Unlike other actresses, she could not successfully camouflage extra weight, especially because she was dancing and singing in revealing costumes. Just 4 feet 11½ inches, she could be underweight and still appear heavy or out of proportion onscreen.”