Legendary actress and singer Liza Minnelli has checked into rehab for substance abuse, a spokesman said yesterday. The 69-year-old Cabaret star “has valiantly battled substance abuse over the years and whenever she has needed to seek treatment she has done so,” said spokesman Scott Gorenstein in a statement.
Minnelli, the daughter of famed actress Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, has battled addiction for decades, and has been in-and-out of rehab multiple times. In 1984, she was first treated for addiction to alcohol and prescription drug use following the death of her mother from a drug overdose in 1969.
At the time, a close friend of Minnelli’s said: “She’s living her mother’s career all over again—being the biggest star in show business, peaking out in films, the weird marriages, the pills, the booze.”
Her struggles attracted widespread media attention in 2003 when her ex-husband publicly accused her of being an abusive alcoholic and attempted to sue her for $10 million in damages.
This past September, she reportedly underwent back surgery that forced her to take a year off performing. The actress is “currently making excellent progress at an undisclosed facility,” said Gorenstein. “Considering she’s doing so well, we expect that she’ll be released shortly.”
