Judy Garland left a dazzling mark on Hollywood that is in a lot of ways, unmatched. Her roles in films like Wizard of Oz and A Star Is Born still echo throughout the modern era, long after she has passed.

Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10th, 1922, was almost not born at all. While pregnant, her mother spoke with doctors about ending the pregnancy but was talked out of it.

Frances had two older sisters of whom her mother pushed into acting and performing and young Frances was of course no different. Her mother was eager to get her onto the stage.

When Frances was four her family moved to Lancaster, California. Judy later called her mom the “real Wicked Witch of the West,” having spent her childhood being dictated and controlled by her. There was little she could do, so like a circus animal, she performed.

Frances’s father, Frank Gumm, was also involved in vaudevillian acting. Him and his wife performed as a song and dance duo and their marriage was somewhat out of convenience for their act.

The unhappy union of Frances’s parents caused a lot of pain in her life. She is quoted as saying, “As I recall, my parents were separating and getting back together all the time. It was very hard for me to understand those things…” Her father died shortly before the future starlet signed with MGM and blew up on the Hollywood scene.

Once the Gumm family landed in California they decided to change their names to match the glamor of the star-studded town. The sisters decided to be the “Garland Sisters” and Frances chose her name to be “Judy,” and thus Judy Garland was born.

To maintain her childlike appearance the studio and her mother forced Judy to be on a diet on a constant basis. They wanted to keep her looking young and immature for as long as possible.

At the time, Louis Mayer was the studio head of MGM. He openly referred to Judy as “my little hunchback” in front of the girl and to those around them. He also took pleasure in touching the young actress inappropriately whenever the opportunity arose.

Louis Mayer would often touch Judy’s chest while telling her that she “sang from the heart.” In one instance, Judy had had enough and confronted the MGM studio head for his disturbing behavior.

When Judy was 17 she starred in the Hollywood classic technicolor fantasy The Wizard of Oz. The film shot her like an arrow into the center of Hollywood stardom, but it came with a heavy price.

The focus on production from MGM was intense, as Wizard of Oz was set to be a major hit and pull in a lot of money. Executives doubled their efforts in controlling the young girl’s physical appearance and what she ate.

Another massive discrepancy in shooting The Wizard of Oz was the amount that Judy Garland was paid in comparison to the rest of the main cast. As the star, you would expect the leading role to make the most.

Judy was also given a cocktail of stimulant and depressant drugs to keep her moving like the show horse that they saw her as. She had to complete the film and from there do an exhausting promotional roadshow, swallowing pills to keep up with the pace.

Judy Garland was living her life being harassed by studio executives about her body, being touched inappropriately, being deprived of food, and led down a path of drugs and self-loathing.

At 19-years-old Judy fell into a romance with a bandleader named David Rose. They first met when he was set to make some musical arrangements for her records. She was very young at their first meeting, but met years later and a romance was sparked.

Very shortly after getting married, Judy became pregnant for the first time. Her husband was against the pregnancy, as well as several others. She was encouraged to get an abortion, which was illegal at the time. Judy wanted to be a mother, but she gave in to the demands to abort.

Meet Me in St. Louis was one of Judy Garland’s largest hits and launched songs still in the collective consciousness of many Americans, like The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Judy’s new beau saw a different potential for the entrapped starlet and encouraged her to move away from her “girl next door” image and work towards a more sophisticated look. Vincente even hired a new make-up artist to assist in re-creating Judy Garland.

Judy and Vincente went on to create more films together. One in 1945’s The Clock and again in 1948’s The Pirate. The couple gave the appearance of strong collaborations in art and love.

There were rumors of Vincente Minnelli leading an openly gay lifestyle in New York that were ignored during his time in Los Angeles and marriage to Judy Garland. At the time, it was viewed as an unacceptable way to live, which may have led to hiding, if there was any.

There is documented blame about the dissolution of Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland’s marriage on both sides. Due to Judy’s increasingly worrisome behavior, she was fired from MGM after 15 years and fell into a nervous breakdown.

Upon discovering her husband in the arms of another, Judy ran to the bathroom in a fit of mania and despair. She began to cut at her wrists in what seemed to be an attempt at ending her own life.

After Judy’s marriage fell apart she was left without a contract, a job, or any type of support, though she had begun an affair with a man while going through her separation from Vincente.

She began to make appearances on Bing Crosby’s radio show and also went on a four month concert tour in which she played for sold out concerts throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Judy’s new husband became her manager and together they began to put efforts into a new smash hit for the silver screen. Together, they launched A Star Is Born which put Judy Garland back on the map.

Judy and her third husband Sidney thought that the success of A Star Is Born was going to carry into lengthy success and keep her up top in Hollywood. Their plans missed the mark after a disheartening Academy Award show.

Because Judy failed to snag the Academy Award, Warner Bros canceled their production contract for Judy to appear in two more films. Things began to fall apart for the star yet again, with things at home beginning to crumble as well.

Sidney and Judy were able stay married for 13 years which was Judy’s longest relationship in her lifetime. Together, they had 2 children.

Both Sidney and Judy ended the marriage with fingers pointed and blame being slung in each direction. Judy said that Sidney struck her “many times.” He said it was all in self-defense.

Judy already had a long history of closeted and non-closeted gay men in her life. It was a reflection of the time that men and women had to hide themselves away to fit into the status quo.

By the time Judy married her fourth husband in 1964 she was still legally married to her third. She officially married her Mark after the divorce was finalized in 1965, continuing her pattern of escaping difficult situations through men.

At the time of Judy’s marriage to Mark, her daughter Liza Minnelli was engaged to be married to her first husband, singer-songwriter Peter Allen. Unfortunately for both women, their partners would betray them in a stunning way.

Liza had to deal with a lot of troubling times when it came to being the daughter of Judy Garland. As the oldest, she had to help raise her younger siblings and manage the household. She also had to save her mother’s life on more than one occasion.

As Liza grew into an adult, her desire to have a relationship with her mother evaporated. Likely exhausted from the years of taking care of her, worrying, and cleaning up her messes, she was no longer able to be a part of her mother’s life.

As Liza pursued her career and left her relationship with her mother behind her, the caretaking of Judy fell on her other daughter, Lorna Luft. It was a difficult position for anyone, let alone a child and a daughter. Lorna recalled a time her mother threw a knife at her brother Joey in a psychotic episode.

In February 1967, Judy signed a contract with 20th Century Fox to play in an adaptation of Valley of the Dolls. Her character was a woman named Helen Lawson who was an older woman with an out of control temper problem.

In Judy Garland’s last years she had lost essentially everything. By 1968 she had no relationship with her children, her peers, or anyone who could help her professionally.

One of the fans who took Judy into their home also helped her get land some gigs. A man named John Meyer was able to secure some appearances for Judy at a small gay bar in Manhattan.

A man named Mickey Dean was the manager of a nightclub in New York in 1966 when he met Judy Garland. A friend had asked him to deliver pills to her hotel and he became another man in another pattern of trying to save Judy Garland from her own demise.

“I finally got the right man to ask me, I’ve been waiting for a long time,” Judy Garland said about her marriage to Mickey Dean. Hopefully Judy was able to live peacefully in the last months of her life. The last lights of Judy Garland flickered on June 22nd, 1969, and then at 47, she was gone.