Liza Minnelli Talks About Her Mother, Bob Fosse, And Rehab, In A Rare Interview

Feb 05, 2020 by apost team

The Hollywood legend Liza Minnelli recently sat down for a special Oscars-themed interview to look back at her incredible life. She opened up about her mother Judy Garland, working with the choreographer Bob Fosse, and her struggles that led her to rehab.

In the lead-up to the Oscars, Variety published a special Academy Award issue with Liza as the cover girl. Her mother's story of her time in London has been made into the movie "Judy," which is nominated for two awards this year. The two had a notoriously strained relationship amid the pressures of Hollywood and the fact that Liza had to live in her shadow. As a young girl though, Liza insists that her mother did her best to protect her:

"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."

apost.com

Liza's own Oscar nomination and win — she is one of the only talents on earth to "EGOT" with Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony wins under her belt — came for 1972's iconic film "Cabaret." Playing the role of Sally Bowles was the defining moment of her career, working alongside the choreographer Bob Fosse who she calls "one of the great thinkers and directors," in Variety.

The publication also remarks on Liza's history with substance addiction which has sent her to rehab a number of times. She was open about visiting the Betty Ford Center in the 1980s, which she says her father helped her go to. Now she is four years sober, with her last stint in rehab being in 2015. 

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