English singer and actress Elaine Paige has confessed she was addicted to sleeping pills for years during her stage career before successfully quitting during the pandemic.
The 78-year-old musical theatre star revealed that after performing in evening shows she would feel wired until the early hours of the morning, leaving her struggling to fall asleep.
Speaking to The Sunday Times magazine, Paige admitted she relied on sleeping tablets to cope with the grueling schedule of live theatre performance.
"I go to sleep but seem to wake up after four hours," Paige said. "For many years in the theatre I lived on sleeping pills, otherwise you’re wired until 2am after a show."
Reflecting on her dependency, she explained: "I called it my Judy Garland syndrome. They’re dreadful things to become addicted to, which I was. But since the pandemic I’ve managed to get off them and will not take one again."
She added that her mindset around sleep has shifted: "I say to myself that even if I don’t sleep well, I’ll be fine the next day. I’m not ready to take afternoon naps yet."
Radio career and stage achievements
In recent years, Paige has stepped away from regular stage performances and has spent the past 21 years hosting Elaine Paige on Sunday on BBC Radio 2, where she plays records, discusses musical theatre, and interviews figures from across the industry.
The West End performer released a new album, titled Miscellaneous Paige, in July. She told the publication she has not performed on stage since the first COVID-19 lockdown and misses both the creative side of live performance and the theatre community.
Her long career in British performing arts has earned major national honours. In June 2025, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to music and charity, and this year she received a Special Award at the Olivier Awards in recognition of her contributions to theatre.
Paige rose to national stardom in 1978 at the age of 29 when she was cast as Eva Perón in the original West End production of Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The breakthrough role transformed her from an experienced supporting actor into one of Britain's leading musical theatre stars.
She went on to star in several of the West End's most famous musicals, creating the role of Grizabella in Cats, playing Florence Vassy in Chess, and starring as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
Childhood insecurity and height struggles
Despite her extensive career success, Paige revealed in an interview with the Radio Times that her 4ft 11in height remains her biggest insecurity, leading her to feel overlooked throughout her life.
The actor admitted she has been terribly shy and self-conscious about her stature since childhood, feeling that her frame frequently led people to ignore or condescend to her in the entertainment industry.
"I'm not even five foot tall and I felt, and still do on some occasions, that no one takes any notice of you because you're living life down here and a lot of the time 'down here' you get overlooked, literally," Paige said.
She added: "This is all part and parcel of this insecurity, if you like, and terrible shyness because you're not the same as everybody else and I was patronised a lot as a young girl."
Paige recalled that her childhood ambition was to become a professional tennis player, but the dream was crushed when her school headmistress told her: "But Elaine, dear, you can't even see over the net."
Remembering the encounter, Paige said: "I've never forgotten it because in one sentence that woman devastated my dream. I was absolutely crushed."
However, she noted that landing the lead role in Evita helped her overcome those feelings, noting that the real Eva Perón was herself only 5ft 5in tall.
Paige remembered the opening night of Evita in 1978 vividly, describing the moment she received a nine-minute standing ovation from the audience as a turning point in her life.
"I did cry because it was completely and utterly overwhelming and I knew at that moment that my life had changed for ever, which it did," she said.
Paige was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year for her performance as Eva Perón, cementing her status as a leading figure of the British stage.
