Judy Garland’s ex-husband Sid Luft has made explosive claims in a new book about the late screen icon’s dark side.
In a newly-published memoir that was discovered upon Luft’s death in 2005, Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland, Luft reveals the couple’s dramatic married life. The memoir says the pair met while partying at a Manhattan club, where Luft was instantly mesmerised by Garland’s “electrical force”. Luft notes that Garland glowed “like a ripened cherry”.
“It was virtually impossible to be cool around Judy since I lusted so entirely after her,” wrote Luft of the early days of their courtship.
Luft, who was a Hollywood producer and the second of Garland’s five husbands, also about the actress’s heavy use of amphetamines and barbiturates, which left her with depression and suicidal thoughts.
"She was married to the drugs before she met me, and she never really got divorced,” he said of Garland’s drug abuse.
“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,” he said.
Luft alleges Judy hid the scar by wearing “a three-string pearl choker from Saks” which she never took off.
Disturbingly, Luft also alleges that Garland was groped by the munchkins on the set of The Wizard Of Oz. Garland was just 16-years-old when she played the part of Dorothy in the 1939 classic movie, the role that propelled her into a household name.
Luft wrote, “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.”
Garland died at the age of 47 in 1969 due to an overdose of prescription drugs.
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