Stevie Phillips, who worked as Judy Garland's personal assistant in the 1960s, has detailed the actress's shocking behaviour in a new memoir. Phillips, then 25, was tasked with looking after the troubled star, who was struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
Phillips recounts rescuing Garland after she set fire to herself while smoking in bed, patting out the flames with her bare hands. On another occasion, Garland attacked Phillips with a kitchen knife and tried to seduce her in the back of a limousine. The assistant also witnessed Garland overdosing on prescription pills weekly and once slitting her wrist, smiling as blood splattered Phillips.
Garland, best known for her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, died aged 47 from an accidental barbiturate overdose. Phillips, now 78, says the star's mind was destroyed by prescription drugs and alcohol, which ruined her career, life, and even Phillips's marriage.
Phillips, who later became a successful Hollywood agent representing Liza Minnelli, Robert Redford, and David Bowie, says no other client compared to Garland's erratic behaviour. The memoir reveals the ugly, deranged reality behind the public's adoration of the screen goddess.
