Todd Bridges believes Gary Coleman could have been saved from the pitfalls of child stardom if he wasn’t forced to be a breadwinner.
“That’s what happens when people get greedy,” Coleman’s “Diff’rent Strokes” co-star told Fox News Digital. “They tend to just take money … and steal things. We all lost some money to some people.
“The only thing that’s different in my life is that I made it through. I’m still here. I’m working and doing other stuff. … As far as [co-star] Dana [Plato] and Gary go, unfortunately, they’re both not here. … For Gary’s situation, I just think he was around the wrong people.”
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Coleman, who entertained audiences on the smash ‘70s sitcom, died in 2010 at age 42. The late actor is now the subject of a new documentary on Peacock, “Gary.” It details his rise to stardom and the struggles he endured living in the spotlight, as well as the circumstances surrounding his death.
The special features new interviews with Bridges, former managers, Coleman’s estranged parents and his ex-wife, Shannon Price.
“It’s very important to speak out about Gary Coleman,” said Bridges, 59. “People need to know who he really was. He was a good kid. People need to know that.”
“Diff’rent Strokes” debuted on NBC in 1978 and drew most of its laughs from Coleman, then a pint-sized 10-year-old with perfect comic timing.
He played Arnold Jackson, the younger of two African American brothers adopted by a wealthy White man. Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up. Jackson’s catchphrase — “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?” — would follow Coleman for the rest of his life.
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“When I first met Gary, I thought he was a really smart kid,” Bridges recalled. “I didn’t know what to think. … I think he grew up around adults, so it was a lot different for him. I grew up around other kids. But I enjoyed being around him.
“I just think about the time when Gary was with me and Dana,” said Bridges. “We were playing jump rope, and Gary tried to jump the rope, but he didn’t. He fell. We all just started laughing, including Gary.”
Bringing the show to life wasn’t always a laughing matter. In the documentary, Bridges claimed Coleman was forced by his father to keep working as he was sick.
“I was not happy [to see that],” Bridges said. “I knew he was sick. He should’ve had the opportunity to be able to rest when the season was done. Those seasons are not like the seasons today.”
Coleman’s short stature added to his child star charm but stemmed from a serious health problem, kidney failure. He got his first of at least two transplants at age five and required dialysis. Even as an adult, his height reached only 4 feet, 8 inches.
“Today you do eight shows and that’s it. … It wasn’t like that for us,” said Bridges. “He did it for nine months straight. So, he would go off and start doing movies and stuff, even though he was sick. … Parents shouldn’t do that.”
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Coleman’s parents, Sue and Willie Coleman, denied the allegations in the documentary.
But in Coleman’s lifetime, he did feel used. He sued his parents and his former manager in 1989, The New York Times reported. According to the outlet, he accused them of misappropriating his trust fund.
That year, Sue filed a court request trying to gain control of her son’s $6 million fortune, saying the 21-year-old was incapable of handling his affairs. Coleman said the move “obviously stems from her frustration at not being able to control my life.”
In 1999, Coleman filed for bankruptcy protection, the outlet noted.
At the time of his death, Sue said she wanted to reconcile and had been patiently waiting for her son to be ready, The Associated Press reported.
Coleman was the highest-paid child actor on TV throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. But as an adult, he was plagued with legal, financial and health woes. While he made TV appearances and scored small roles over the years, he remained in the shadow of his old popularity. At one point, he worked as a security guard.
Coleman wouldn’t be the only one to face the so-called “curse” of “Diff’rent Strokes.”
In 1989, Bridges was acquitted of attempted murder in the shooting of a drug dealer. The 24-year-old testified at the time that he became depressed and turned to drugs after “Diff’rent Strokes” was canceled. In his 2010 memoir, Bridges said he was molested by a publicist and family friend at age 11.
Plato, who played the boys’ White teenage sister, pleaded guilty in 1991 to a robbery charge. She died in 1999 of an overdose of painkillers and muscle relaxers. The medical examiner’s office ruled the 34-year-old’s death a suicide.
“I was 24, 25 [when] I realized that I needed help,” Bridges said of his battle with addiction. “I remember Gary in the beginning didn’t want to talk to me when I was getting in trouble, having my situations. And then when he started getting in trouble, I called and talked to him. He’s like, ‘Why do you want to talk to me?’ I remember saying to Gary, ‘Because I’m your brother, man. It happens. It’s OK. You’ll get out of it.’
“And Dana, she was such a light,” he added. “She was such a spark. I was really sad when that happened to her.”
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Following “Diff’rent Strokes,” bets were being made on which of the three child stars would die first, the documentary revealed. Bridges said he wanted to prove his critics “all wrong.”
Coleman attempted to resurrect his career, but legal disputes dogged him repeatedly. He moved to Utah in 2005.
In September 2008, a dustup with a fan at a Utah bowling alley led Coleman to plead no contest to disorderly conduct. A lawsuit was settled out of court.
In early 2010, officers were called to assist or intervene with Coleman more than 20 times. Some of the disputes involved his wife, whom he met on the set of the 2006 comedy “Church Ball” and married in 2007.
In 2010, Coleman suffered a brain hemorrhage after a fall. Two days after the accident, he was taken off life support, according to the documentary.
Bridges, who has been sober for over 31 years, started a foundation to help other addicts, the Society of Evidence-Based Addiction Treatment. He’s also voicing one of the characters in the upcoming animated series “Everybody Still Hates Chris.”
He credited his Christian faith for keeping him grounded in Hollywood.
“Whenever I’m going through something, I go to God, and things change in my life,” he said. “I trust in believing Him. People ask me why. I tell them I’ve had situations in my life where I knew He was real.
Looking back, Bridges said many lessons were learned.
“What I always tell people is this: For every child actor you see going wrong, I can name you 10 that haven’t,” he said. “I can’t put this on child actors. It’s only certain people. … We need to watch out for predators. They’re there and they’re waiting.”
