Judy Garland Was Put on a Strict Diet and Encouraged to Take "Pep Pills" While Filming 'The...

The start of a lifelong addiction problem...

As Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland cemented her place in Hollywood as a beloved icon. The wholesome Kansas farm girl who only wants to return home after finding herself in the land of Oz, Dorothy was sweet and caring, and audiences were smitten with her from the first scene.

But the lead-up to and making of the 1939 classic was a far more treacherous landscape for the teenager to navigate than the fictional perils of Oz. Garland would endure excruciatingly long work hours and a studio system that turned a blind eye to, and in fact often encouraged, the use of substances such as stimulants to keep performers working, and sleeping pills to ensure they would be able to rest.
By the time 17-year-old Garland finished filming Oz, she was already addicted to barbiturates and amphetamines. Her use of the drugs had started before the actress slipped into those ruby slippers, in part due to studio bosses who demanded she remain thin, and energetic enough to cope with arduous days of filming.
Substance abuse would become an issue she would fight the remainder of her life until she died of an accidental overdose in 1969 at age 47, leaving behind her three children (Liza Minnelli and Lorna and Joey Luft), five marriages and an artistic legacy often overshadowed by the tragedies of her short life.
Garland's mother was the first person to give her pills
Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, MN on June 10, 1922, Garland was pushed to perform at a young age by her mother Ethel, a frustrated vaudeville performer who put her daughters on the stage as early as possible. At the tender age of two-and-a-half, Garland was in the spotlight performing alongside her sisters. In later life, Garland would remember her mother as “the real Wicked Witch of the West.”

According to Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland biographer Gerald Clarke, Garland’s mother was the first to provide pills – both for energy and sleep – to her not yet 10-year-old daughter.