\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \tRelated story \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tHayden Panettiere’s Decades-Old Injuries ‘Still Bothered’ Her Months Before Her Death\t\t<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n \t \n\t\u201cIn New York I had surrounded myself with people who at worst encouraged me to use drugs, or at best didn\u2019t encourage me to stop,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI had boxes of pills and bottles of booze stashed away in my co-op apartment,\u201d she continued. \u201cWith no one watching, I self-medicated myself to foggy perfection, to a place where I felt nothing or no one could hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn hopes of escaping the \u201cfog,\u201d she decided to relocate to Los Angeles, but as they say: Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNow, in California, I got lost in the same fog. It was the same old bulls***, this time with more sunshine,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons I checked into rehab as quickly as I did. I was out of options.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEven though she\u2019d agreed to undergo treatment at the Betty Ford Center in LA, Minnelli said she was \u201cf***ing scared to death.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tShe specifically thanked her sister, Lorna Luft, who managed to convince her to board the plane (which was Frank Sinatra\u2019s private jet) by buying her a hot dog. She also thanked her close friend Michael Feinstein, his husband Terrence Flannery, and her physician Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, for stepping in and saving her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c\u2019I\u2019m in pain!\u2019 I would scream,\u201d she wrote. \u201cDr. Piro would say, \u2018Liza, you\u2019re always in pain. Did you take your Tylenol?\u2019 God, did I want to wring his neck. But, these four are the quartet that truly saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMinnelli\u2019s struggles are rooted in childhood trauma. Her mother, Hollywood legend Judy Garland<\/a>, passed away from an accidental barbiturate overdose in 1969. She was only 47 at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAfter multiple attempts at treatment over the decades, Minnelli finally achieved lasting sobriety following a 2015 stay<\/a> at a facility in Malibu, California.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI realized that maybe my nine lives were up,\u201d she wrote in her memoir. \u201cThese days, if someone offers me a glass of champagne at a party, I thank them, and put it down without a sip,\u201d adding, \u201cMedication is a different story. I still have lower back pain<\/a>, and I do get anxious from time to time. But the drugs are now strictly controlled. And baby, there\u2019s no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.sheknows.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-sheknows-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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\n<\/section>\n<\/p>\n\n\t\tA Life-Saving Support System\u00a0\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tBreaking the Generational Cycle\u00a0\t<\/h2>\n