Judy Garland's Autopsy Report Is Seriously Tragic

The following article includes references to addiction and suicide. 

Even those who've never seen her films know who Judy Garland is. Immortalized for her portrayal of Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," her fame has outlived her by a lot. But her success often stood in contrast to the truth of Garland's life. Throughout her time in the spotlight, Garland's issues with depression and addiction often overshadowed her work. Because she had reportedly attempted suicide several times, Garland's mysterious death was met with suspicion. But what caused her death was her lifelong use of sleeping pills.

Her prescription drug use started early on. Garland grew up in a family of vaudevillians and began working when she was just a kid. When she was 9, Ethel Gumm, her mother and manager, started giving her stimulants to get her to work incessantly and sleeping pills to counteract the other drugs' effects, Gerald Clarke wrote in his 2000 biography, "Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland."  The realities of the entertainment industry didn't help.

Garland claimed her managers later forced her to take amphetamines in part to help her lose weight, followed by depressants to bring her back down, not unlike what her mother had done. "They'd give us pep pills. Then they'd take us to the studio hospital and knock us cold with sleeping pills ... That's the way we worked," she said in tapes meant to expose the horrific ways the old Hollywood studios abused actors (via Daily Express). The iconic actor died at 47, but her death had been in the making for decades.

On June 22, 1969, Judy Garland's fifth husband, Mickey Deans, found her lifeless body in the bathroom of their London home. The medical examiner determined she died from an accidental overdose of secobarbital, a powerful barbiturate medication used to treat short-term insomnia that has largely fallen out of use because of its high risk of addiction. "This is quite clearly an accidental circumstance to a person who was accustomed to taking barbiturates over a very long time," coroner Gavin Thurston said (via The Guardian).

The pathologist found nearly 5 milligrams of Seconal in Garland's system, an amount that would have killed just about anyone if taken at one time. Astonishingly, her stomach showed no signs of inflammation, indicating she was used to taking incredibly high doses of the sleeping pill, pathologist Dr. R.E.K. Pocock testified (via UPI). By that point, Garland was completely dependent on it. "I don't think she could have slept without them," her London doctor, Dr. John Traherne, said.

Pocock also found no evidence that alcohol had played a role in Garland's death, defying one of her doctor's previous assertions that she had been suffering from cirrhosis. "She was living on borrowed time," Dr. Philip Lebon previously claimed. Her husband wasn't surprised at the pathologist's findings. "My wife drank very little, as opposed to what people think. She left a lot of drink around the house — about six glasses — but she sipped more than she drank," Deans said.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues or is struggling or in crisis, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org