Four Uncomfortable Facts About Judy Garland
The dark side of the rainbow
The dark history of the Golden Age of Hollywood is well-documented. Beneath the wealth and glamour, the film industry had an ugly underbelly consisting of economic exploitation, bullying behavior, and substance abuse.
The story of Judy Garland — one of entertainment’s greatest legends — is the perfect distillation of this disturbing side of Hollywood. If you want proof that people will exploit talent for their own gain, you’ve come to the right place.
1. Judy Garland’s Mother Gave Drugs To Her Children
In all of Judy’s accounts of her childhood, her mother is made out to be a villain, and it’s easy to see why. Determined to see at least one of her children become a star, Ethel Gumm pushed her daughters to the limit.
Weekend after weekend, Ethel took Judy and her two older sisters on a three-hour trip to Los Angeles in search of fame, where the girls would perform as a threesome known as the Gumm Sisters.
Ethel gave her daughters pills to perk up their energy levels and then knocked them to sleep…
