Like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster, Judy Garland’s life was punctuated by dizzying highs and brutal blows. At 13, she signed a coveted contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) films. Then her father died. At 16, she won a juvenile Oscar for roles that included Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. But behind the scenes, film executives called her “little hunchback” due to her height (150cm), criticised her weight and forced her on a diet of amphetamine-based weight-loss pills and barbiturates to control sleep. At 19, she married composer David Rose in a flurry of young love, only to divorce him three years later after she was pushed to get an abortion.
For Garland, every win came at a cost. Every moment of joy was marred by an undercurrent of darkness. Every smile hid a torturous secret. The roller-coaster of opposites was relentless, as Garland noted herself: “My life was a combination of absolute chaos and absolute solitude.”
Frances Ethel. But, unfortunately, Garland didn’t have a pair of ruby slippers to save her from her childhood.
