Liza Minnelli has shared a rare recovery update, saying she is grateful to be alive at 80.
The Cabaret star addressed her substance use disorder in an Instagram post marking National Recovery Month.
Her message was candid, hopeful and focused on the people supporting her. She wrote: “Hey Kids, am grateful to be alive and able to honor National Recovery Month.
“Yes, even at 80 … we can still be kids. I feel damn childlike on days that make me vulnerable to my disease … Substance Use Disorder.”
Her thanks included her sister Lorna Luft, singer Michael Feinstein and Dr Lawrence Piro.
“Thank God I have so much support. I’m helped by my darling sister @lornaluftofficial, who saved my life, my dearest friend @michaelfeinsteinsings, and the incredible Dr. Lawrence Piro,” she said.
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Liza Minnelli reveals plans for recovery programme
The performer also revealed that work has begun on a recovery programme rooted in her experiences.
Liza said it would share lessons from the highs and lows of her lifetime in recovery.
Dr Richard LeBeau, director of the UCLA Psychology Clinic, is working with her on the project.
She described it as a companion to her memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! Liza said the book topped New York Times bestseller lists.
The project should serve people seeking recovery while helping relatives, friends and colleagues offer support, she explained.
She said supporters need to understand how to help without enabling people. Her post also carried a stark warning shaped by the loss of people she loved.
She wrote: “I know this: without sobriety, we will die.”
Liza Minnelli reflects on addiction and sobriety
In her memoir, Liza said she is now sober. She recalled growing up around people who misused pills, alcohol and dangerous drugs.
She also witnessed her mother Judy Garland’s difficulties with addiction at close range.
However, Liza wrote that she once believed she could control her own substance use. That belief included Valium, cocaine and alcohol.
Looking back, she rejected that confidence and wrote: “Sober at 80 is so much better.”
Liza has linked the beginning of her addiction to the period around Judy’s funeral. Judy died from an accidental overdose in June 1969, aged 47.
Liza said grief, stress and tension had overwhelmed her before the funeral. A doctor prescribed Valium to help her relax, she recalled.
What seemed like short-term relief became a habit before developing into addiction over later years.
She also said Elizabeth Taylor urged her to return to rehabilitation and take the problem seriously.
Over the years, Liza’s health continued to decline after she fought bronchial pneumonia in 2010 and a mystery medical condition in 2014.
She occasionally uses a wheelchair for safety and mobility due to her age and back issues.
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