Judy Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft recalls growing up with Hollywood icon: ‘She was a great mother’

Lorna Luft still has fond memories of her mother, Judy Garland.

The show business icon, still recognized for her performance in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz,” died in 1969 when she was 47 years old from a barbiturate overdose in London.

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Luft was 16 years old when she lost her mother. But Luft’s memories are still vivid in her mind.

“She was a great mother — incredibly loving, touchy-feeling and with a wicked sense of humor,” the now 66-year-old recently told UK’s Sunday Times Post, as reported by Closer Weekly.

“She understood about human frailties in other people and was very understanding,” continued Luft. “She hated discrimination and loved everyone. Both of my parents taught me kindness, understanding and not taking things for granted.”

Luft’s father was Garland’s third husband, Sidney Luft, who passed away in 2005 at age 89.

The also actress admitted that losing her mother so suddenly was incredibly difficult at such a young age.

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“When she died, in the bathroom of her Chelsea mews house on June 22, 1969, the show and sense of loss were almost unbearable,” explained Luft. “Losing a parent at any age is devastating, but when you lose a parent who’s really, really famous, you have to share your grief with the rest of the world and that’s so strange. I just knew her as my mother, in the kitchen in a bathrobe, but to the world, she was an icon, a legend.”

In addition to Luft, Garland is survived by her other daughter, 72-year-old Liza Minnelli, as well as her son Joey Luft, 63.

Luft shared that despite Garland’s busy schedule in Hollywood, she made sure to spend quality time with her children.

“My older sister, Joey and I had a nanny and we had help in the house because my mother was either making films or recording,” said Luft. “She was modern; she was a working mom. In the late 1950s and early 1960s not many mothers did that. She’d come home exhausted, but she’d still have the energy to sing us a lullaby before bed.”

Garland may no longer be here, but Luft said she has never really left her side.

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“I’m reminded that my mother is gone every single day,” said Luft. “I’ll see her picture in a card store, or hear her voice on the radio. Yet I feel she is on my shoulder — she’s always with me. She was an extraordinary person and I’m deeply grateful she was my mother.”

“When people want to go into all her troubles, I think, ‘Just look at what she left. And say thank you,’” added Luft.

Back in 2017, Luft candidly spoke about Garland and her private battles.

“I do think my mother was a victim of the studio system,” she explained at the time to Studio 10. “It also gave her the ability to channel her talent to all of us. It was a real double-edged sword. The highs were incredibly high. The lows… were devastating. I learned about the disease of addiction. And that was part of the whole story. It wasn’t just the story.”

Garland had battled with drug and alcohol addiction before she was found dead. Luft recalled how growing up, she would switch Garland’s prescription pills with sugar to avoid an overdose.

“I was taught how to do that by my dad,” she explained. “When you have a parent who’s teaching you how to take care of your other parent, that’s what you do.”

However, Luft experienced her own struggles. She described using drugs at the infamous nightclub Studio 54 in New York City after her mother passed away.

“We were doing cocaine, we were doing all sorts of things,” said Luft. “And I think, I’ll never forget, somebody came up to me and said, ‘Do you not think that you’re doing the same thing that your mom did?’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, no, no. She had a problem. I only do it at night… stupid."

Luft later went to the Betty Ford Center to seek treatment. The reason? She wanted a family of her own.

“I wanted a baby,” said Luft. “The hangovers were not going away. I really was honestly sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.”

But these days, Luft is in a better place. Not only does she pay tribute to her mother on stage, but she also cherishes her many childhood memories in Hollywood, including those involving her famous “uncles” who would drop by at home.

“Everybody was a movie star,” said Luft. “But I didn’t know that. I just knew they were friends of my parents. I didn’t think anything of Frank Sinatra or Humphrey Bogart or Dean Martin or Sammy Davis or anything — they were my uncle Frank, you know, that’s who they were.”

As for her own musical career, she added it was a natural move for her to make.

“I didn’t know anything else,” she said. “I don’t think I did anything unusual. I went into the family business.”

And Garland’s life wasn't a tragedy. According to her daughter, she enjoyed stretching the truth just to make fans laugh, especially when it came to her famous role as Dorothy in the 1939 musical fantasy, “The Wizard of Oz.” Rumor has it the munchkins were often drunk on set. That story was told by Garland on television, but it was a lie.

“My mom would embellish on things she knew would make an audience laugh,” said Luft. “Did they happen? Maybe not… That didn’t happen. They would have never, ever risk their careers, their one chance to be in a film. The munchkins were auditioned from all over the world.”

And Luft believes that no matter where life takes her, Garland is always close by.

“She is on my shoulder every single day. Watching over me,” said Luft.