Judy Garland Struggled With Addiction to Alcohol and Prescription Drugs Before Private Investigator Helped Her Get Sober, New Book Claims

According to the new book The Fixer: Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars and Marilyn, private investigator Fred Otash helped Judy Garland fight her drug and alcohol addiction in the mid '60s.

The work, written by Manfred Westphal, includes many of Otash’s notes from the Tinseltown inspector’s archives, which revealed shocking revelations about The Wizard of Oz star, who died in 1969 at age 47 due to a barbiturate overdose. Otash passed away in 1992 at age 70.

While speaking with a news outlet, Westphal explained how Otash assisted Garland in trying to get sober after he was hired to work for her.

"When Judy Garland filed for divorce from her third husband, Sid Luft, she was afraid to be in her home alone," the author explained of the actress, who was married five times throughout her life. "She feared that Sid might kidnap the children. So her attorney, Jerry Giesler, hired Otash to serve as her bodyguard."

"He turned out to be her fixer," Westphal shared.

Though Otash was just protecting Garland at the time, he previously worked for the LAPD and later launched his own detective bureau in 1955.

Westphal noted how Garland "demanded" that Otash move in with her for the job.

"Fred Otash moved in," he said. "And when he did, he soon discovered her addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. So, he took charge of the situation. Much to Judy’s chagrin, he locked up all the booze in her garage and flushed all her pills down the toilet. She struggled with withdrawal."

"She had many, many sleepless nights," Westphal continued. "She pretty much demanded or forced Fred to stay up every night with her into the wee hours of the morning. They would just sit in her living room, and he would patiently listen to her talk about all the trials and tribulations that she went through in her life. He knew that it would be good for her to get it all out."

In the book, Otash’s writings revealed he thought Garland — who had one child with ex Vincente Minnelli and two kids with Luft — was "a crazy mixed-up kid inside a woman’s body, scared to death of living while killing herself with self-doubt, booze and those s----- little pills."

Otash allegedly found pills scattered all over Garland’s home, including uppers, downers and "some pills he didn’t recognize."

"It truly was beneficial," Westphal stated of Otash’s presense. "When that 30-day period was over, she was clean. And his work helped reconcile her marriage to Sid Luft. And they became good friends throughout the process. Fred had a great affection for her. He had even become quite attached to her children."

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In the work, Otash even recalled: "One day, a terribly shy Liza, caught in that awkward stage between a little girl and a young lady, came out to the back of the house where I was washing my car, and she thanked me for helping her mother."

Fox News Digital interviewed Westphal.