NEWSLiza Minnelli Reveals the Painful Moment She First Sought Rehab in 1984: 'I Self-Medicated Myself'
Liza Minnelli recalled hiding pills and bottles of alcohol in her apartment before entering rehab in 1984.
Aug. 19 2026, Updated 2:39 p.m. ET
Liza Minnelli opened up about the painful time when she first sought rehab, back in 1984.
She took to her Instagram on August 18, writing, "In Manhattan, I had favorite bars where bartenders were happy to serve me any hour I showed up. I had boxes of pills and bottles of booze stashed away in my co-op apartment."
"With no one watching, I self-medicated myself to foggy perfection, to a place where I felt nothing or no one could hurt me," the singer continued.
Liza Minnelli self-medicated herself to a place where she felt 'nothing or no one could hurt me.'
Her post was accompanied by an image of herself looking drawn and sweaty on a couch at the time, reflecting her journey from New York to Los Angeles after becoming a renowned name.
"Now, in California," she went on to confess, "I got lost in the same fog. It was the same old bulls---, this time with more sunshine. That’s one of the reasons I checked into rehab as quickly as I did. I was out of options."
Liza Minnelli Said She Was 'Scared to Death'
Liza Minnelli noted that her first rehab stay in L.A. had her 'scared to death.'
In her Instagram post, Minnelli noted that her first rehab stay at Los Angeles’ Betty Ford Center had her "f---ing scared to death," ahead of checking into the facility, adding, "My book reveals how many times I nearly died."
"I thank my amazing sister [Lorna Luft] who had to buy me a hot dog to get me on board Frank Sinatra’s private jet for my first rehab visit," she wrote.
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Liza Minnelli went to rehab multiple times over the years to treat her alcohol and drug addiction.
"Lorna, how the h--- did you put up with me? My brother from another mother [Michael Feinstein] and his husband, Terrence Flannery, and my Dr. Lawrence D. Piro who refused to buy my Oscar worthy performances for drugs that could kill me," she proceeded to write.
Minnelli added, "'I’m in pain!' I would scream. Dr. Piro would say, 'Liza, you’re always in pain. Did you take your Tylenol?' God, did I want to wring his neck. But, these four are the quartet that truly saved my life."
Minnelli Said She Hit Rock Bottom in New York
Liza Minnelli said she she hit rock bottom after getting familiar with the wrong type of crowd in New York.
Minnelli, who went to rehab multiple times over the years to treat addiction, said she hit rock bottom after getting familiar with the wrong type of crowd.
"In New York, I had surrounded myself with people who, at worst, encouraged me to use drugs, or, at best, didn’t encourage me to stop," she wrote on Instagram.
She continued, "I was equally irresponsible with money. If someone admired something I had, something I wore, I simply gave it away. I may have felt guilty about the ease with which money came to me and never bothered to think about what would happen when I wasn’t touring the world, singing my songs. Not smart."
