Liza Minnelli is opening up about being diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD).
“Hey Kids, [I] am grateful to be alive and able to honor National Recovery Month,” Minnelli, 80, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, September 1. “Yes, even at 80, we can still be kids. I feel damn childlike on days that make me vulnerable to my disease … Substance Use Disorder.”
The legendary performer added, “Thank God I have so much support. I’m helped by my darling sister [Lorna Luft], who saved my life, my dearest friend [Michael Feinstein], and the incredible Dr. Lawrence Piro.
Without offering further details, Minnelli revealed that she started working with Dr. Richard LeBeau, the director of UCLA’s Psychology Clinic “to develop a program” utilizing all of the lessons she learned for “as many people as possible.”
“This will be a companion to Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, which I am so grateful hit #1 on New York Times bestsellers’ lists, as well as many others here at home, and around the world,” she wrote. “Thank you, Babies. We’re bringing care to the people who need recovery, as well as guidance for those — like Michael and Lorna — who support us. Family, friends, husbands, wives, children, colleagues … must know how to help us, not enable us.”
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She added, “I’ve lost too many people I love. I know this: without sobriety, we will die. So keep an eye on this page, Kids. More will be shared soon, and I’m excited to start spreadin’ the news, and help as many people as we can. I love you.”
Minnelli revealed in her Kids, Wait Till You Hear This memoir, published in March, that she is sober.
“Growing up, I met a lot of people who popped too many pills, drank too much and played games with dangerous drugs. They eventually stumbled and fell,’” she wrote in a passage, which was later shared via Facebook last month. “I’d had a front-row seat to Mama’s demons, but I was convinced I was different. I was too smart for that.”
Minnelli, one of the daughters of the late Judy Garland, further explained that she was never “a heavy drinker.”
“I just liked wine. If Valium calmed me down by day, why couldn’t a pill help me sleep at night?” she wrote at the time. “I used cocaine, but so did everybody else. Baby, I had it all under control. I was a survivor. ‘You’re too smart to ruin your life. Liza,’ I told myself. ‘You’re not that stupid.’ WRONG!!!”
She concluded, “Sober at 80 is so much better. Am I still smoking? I’ll never tell.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
