Liza Minnelli Opens Up About Her Substance Abuse Battle

Liza Minnelli was destined to follow "in ma's footsteps." She was just 14 months old when the magazines began to predict her fame and by 1972 she had lived up to those expectations with an award-winning performance in "Cabaret."

Being the daughter of Judy Garland helped boost her career but Minnelli had enough talent to make it on her own. In fact, she did not even realize her parents were celebrities until later in life, when people began to ask questions.

The snooping got to Garland, Minnelli revealed in an extremely candid interview that appears in the latest edition of Variety.

"My parents were my parents. I didn’t know that I had to dodge questions about Mama until people started asking me questions," she explained. "Mama got angry. She was one who got angry at people for asking me questions about her."

Minnelli admitted she was happiest when Garland was happy.

"She was funny, very funny, clear, incredibly intelligent, but more than you could even imagine, and in the moment." she said.

When her mother was in a bad mood, she would do her best to cheer her up.

"I’d tickle her when she was really angry or upset about something," Minnelli said. "I’d take her by the hips and put her on the bed or on the couch. This is when I’m like 5."

Minnelli got her first taste of showbiz when she was three and Garland took her onstage. By 11 she was rehearsing dance routines with her mother and in high school she made her first stage acting debut when she was cast as the lead in "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Her performance blew her parents away.

"When they came to see 'Anne Frank,' my mother came backstage after the show with tears streaming down her face," Minnelli said. "I said, 'Was I good?' And she said, 'Wonderful.'"

Minnelli knew this was what she wanted and through hard work, she would go on to have an illustrious career that earned her four Tonys, two Grammys, an Emmy and an Oscar. Success did not come easy though.

"The hardest part was getting to be known as myself as opposed to somebody’s daughter," Minnelli said.

"I remember Mama saying, 'Now don’t get upset because of the way they may compare you to me because you’re an entertainer too.' I said, 'Oh, I won’t.' And then she reads something where they compared me to her. She said, 'How dare they? You’re your own woman. Dammit! Can’t they see?' And she’d throw it down in the trash."

Living in her mother's shadow was not the only thing that would haunt Minnelli.

Throughout her career she has battled with substance abuse. In the 80s she realized she had a problem and sought treatment at the Betty Ford clinic. Looking back at the tumultuous time, Minnelli said it was her father she turned to for help.

"He said, 'Well, let’s see what can we do about it.' I said, 'Well, all these people talk about the Betty Ford Center,' and he said, 'Then you’ll go there.' Just like that. So he took me there."

Minnelli admitted there were moments when she did not think she was going to survive, but she pushed through the dark times and came out stronger.

Minnelli said her mother always wanted her to do the right thing. It helped her battle her personal demons and even today she calls upon her mother's "presence" when she needs some guidance.

"When I call on her, she’s there, and I call on her a lot. She’ll say, 'Ignore it' a lot. She’ll say, 'It’s one opinion. Who cares? Just keep going."

Liza Minnelli was destined to follow "in ma's footsteps." She was just 14-months-old when the magazines began to predict her fame and by 1972 she had lived up to those expectations with an award-winning performance in "Cabaret."