Judy Garland's Lover Shares Details of Star's Final Months

Judy Garland's life was a turbulent one. She lived in a shroud of depression and was plagued by reports of drug addiction, suicide attempts, and failed marriage.

It came to a tragic end in 1969 when she died from an accidental barbiturate overdose at just 47. Her former lover John Meyer revisited those final months leading up to her death in an interview with People published Wednesday.

"She gave me a cursory kiss goodbye, 'So long Johnny,'" he said of the last time he saw her in January 1969.

Meyer was 28 when he met Garland, then 46, late in 1968. Things moved quickly for the couple. They moved in together and Meyer became Garland's everything — lover, companion and "the shoulder that she could lean on."

They were in love but things soon fell apart. In 1969 Garland was to fly to London for a five-week concert series but 10 days before the trip Meyer fell ill.

Garland showed no sympathy. Instead she sought out the company of Mickey Deans, who she met after receiving a box of uppers from him.

"Mickey was a hustler," Meyer said, "and when I was unable to shepherd Judy through the TV shows in New York, she called Mickey, and Mickey, just like me, dropped his whole life to go with her. She had dropped me and somebody else assumed my place."

Determined to win her back, Meyer hopped onto a plane to London but things did not go according to plan. Instead he was greeted by a reserved Garland who offered him a peck on the cheek. She died five months later.

Meyer recalled the moving service held at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in Manhattan.

"James Mason (her costar in 'A Star Is Born') gave the eulogy and then we all filed out into the bright, bright sunlight at 11 o’clock in the morning and I cried," he said. "No more jokes, no more fun. She was the most marvelous fun. That’s what nobody really speaks about."

The world remembers the tragedies of Garland's life. Her daughter recently opened up in a tell-all interview and the stories she shared were of love and loss, but Meyer said that was not how Garland saw things, and neither did he.

"She thought her life was a gas, a ball," he said. "She didn’t think her life was painful. She was funny. She experienced joy. She loved sex. She didn’t love food. She loved to sing and she loved the attention."

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