An explosive new book, penned by the late screen icon’s ex-husband Sid Luft, has revealed a darker side to the much-loved film The Wizard of Oz.
In the unfinished memoirs, which were discovered upon Luft’s passing in 2005, it’s claimed that Judy Garland was groped by the munchkins on the set of The Wizard Of Oz.
Garland was just 16-years-old when she took on the role of Dorothy in the 1939 classic movie.
According to The Sun 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.”
Shortly after the film hit the silver screen, Garland became a household name.
Luft and Garland were married in 1952 and welcomed a daughter, Lorna, and a son, Joey during their marriage.
After 13 years together the pair would file to end their union in 1965, with Garland claiming at the time that Luft was a drunk and abusive.
Luft, the second of Garland’s five husbands, goes on to expose her dramatic life in the newly-published memoir, Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland.
The memoir explains that the pair met while partying at a Manhattan club, where Luft was instantly taken by Garland’s “electrical force” over him. Luft even noted that the Hollywood-sweetheart glowed “like a ripened cherry”.
Speaking to the early days of their relationship, Luft said: “It was virtually impossible to be cool around Judy since I lusted so entirely after her.”
Detailing their first night spent together, he added, “I was to discover just how different Judy was from other women. She was uninhibited, giving herself over to her passions so completely.”
Garland and Luft are captured dancing the night away
The newly-published memoir has exposed Garland’s dramatic rise and fall.
Luft, who worked in Hollywood as a producer, went on to note that he never enquired as to the origin of the “thin scars” Garland hid on the insides of her wrists.
He did, however, recall that the actress’s heavy use of amphetamines and barbiturates left her with depression and suicidal thoughts.
Speaking to her drug abuse, he wrote, “She was married to the drugs before she met me, and she never really got divorced.”
Luft also wrote of the dramatic night Garland attempted to take her own life by slitting her throat with a razor blade.
He said, “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.”
According to Luft, Judy combatted the incident by ordering “a three-string pearl choker from Saks” which she never took off.
He even recalled that “she wore it to bed.”
Tragically, Garland eventually succumbed to her life-long addiction to prescription drugs, dying of an overdose aged just 47.
This story originally appeared on Woman’s Day Australia
