“I heard her whispering to our producer, Harold Davison: ‘Harold, get her off my f---ing stage!’”

Liza Minnelli says mom Judy Garland tried to kick her off stage during joint performance as a teen: ‘Mama fumed’

"I heard her whispering to our producer, Harold Davison: 'Harold, get her off my f---ing stage!'"

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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February 21, 2026 10:00 a.m. ET

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Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland. Credit:

- Liza Minnelli performed alongside her mother, Judy Garland, at the London Palladium when she was 18.

- Minnelli says Garland was supportive at first, but began "losing enthusiasm" as the night went on.

- "I heard her whispering to our producer, Harold Davison: 'Harold, get her off my f---ing stage!'" she remembers in a new memoir.

Liza Minnelli says that her mom wasn't thrilled to share the stage with her.

In her forthcoming memoir *Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!*, the *Cabaret *star shares a troubling memory of her mother, Judy Garland, attempting to kick her off stage at age 18 when they sang together at the London Palladium in 1965.

Minnelli says that her mom was supportive of her initial performance, but gradually grew unhappier as she continued singing.

"After my first song [on opening night] I heard her shout, 'Yeah, baby! Go get 'em!'" Minnelli says in an excerpt published in PEOPLE. "After the second song, another "Yeah!" but not quite as strong. By the third song, let's just say she was losing enthusiasm."

Liza Minnelli in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2015.

Venturelli/Getty

Minnelli claims that after that third song, her mom tried to kick her out of the spotlight. "I heard her whispering to our producer, Harold Davison: 'Harold, get her off my f---ing stage!'" she remembers. "I just kept singing to wild applause as Mama fumed."

The *New York, New York* actress believes that in that moment, her mom's star persona snuffed out her maternal instincts. "I had a stunning realization," she says. "I had begun the night as Mama's daughter. Now, I was onstage with Judy Garland."

Minnelli went on tour with her mother at an early age, noting in her memoir that Garland offered her and her half-brother, Joey Luft, two options. "We could stay in school in Los Angeles. Or we could come on the road with her," she recalls. "We'd be in and out of different hotels, schools (I'd eventually attend 22 of them), and cities. 'When do we leave?' we answered in unison."

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During that period, Minnelli says that she helped assist Garland, who struggled with addiction, in several unconventional ways. "At 13, I was my mother's caretaker — a nurse, doctor, pharmacologist, and psychiatrist rolled into one," she says. "I lost count of the times I called doctors to say she'd run out of pills. I'd say: 'I'm a kid! Please fill my mama's prescription!'"

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Minnelli's own addiction began after Garland's surprising death from an accidental overdose in 1969. "I cried for eight straight days," the actress remembers. "Stress and tension overwhelmed me. I was reeling, and a doctor prescribed Valium to help me relax just before the funeral. What began as a one-day blessing soon turned into a habit, then a full-blown case of addiction in the years ahead. It was a final gift, a genetic inheritance from Mama I could not escape."

*Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!* hits bookstores on March 10.

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