Rock Bottom

From my book “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!”, here are some free-falling facts:

“In New York I had surrounded myself with people who at worst encouraged me to use drugs, or at best didn’t encourage me to stop. I was equally irresponsible with money.

If someone admired something I had, something I wore, I simply gave it away. I may have felt guilty about the ease with which money came to me and never bothered to think about what would happen when I wasn’t touring the world, singing my songs. Not smart.

Back in Manhattan, I had favorite bars where bartenders were happy to serve me any hour I showed up. I had boxes of pills and bottles of booze stashed away in my co-op apartment. With no one watching, I self-medicated myself to foggy perfection, to a place where I felt nothing or no one could hurt me. Now, in California, I got lost in the same fog. It was the same old bullshit, this time with more sunshine. That’s one of the reasons I checked into rehab as quickly as I did. I was out of options.” And I was f..king scared to death! My book reveals how many times I nearly died. I thank my amazing sister @lornaluftofficial who had to buy me a hot dog to get me on board Frank Sinatra’s private jet for my first rehab visit. Lorna how the hell did you put up with me? My brother from another mother @michaelfeinsteinsings and his husband Terrence Flannery, and my Dr. Lawrence D. Piro who refused to buy my Oscar worthy performances for drugs that could kill me. “ I’m in pain!” I would scream. Dr. Piro would say, “Liza, you’re always in pain. Did you take your Tylenol?” God, did I want to wring his neck. But, these four are the quartet that truly saved my life.

•