When 40-year-old actor Gary Coleman married his 22-year-old wife, Shannon Price last August no one questioned if the union would last, but rather when it would end.
Well, we got the answer.
If you guessed eight months then consider yourself the winner in this losing partnership.
According to Coleman, the honeymoon was over a long time ago, but he and his wife only got around to filing for divorce a few weeks ago.
It’s probably because they were waiting for May sweeps.
Yeah, you read right—-May TV sweeps. That all important time when networks vie for as many viewers as possible to pad their ratings and sell commercials at the highest possible price for the remainder of the year.
So what does May sweeps have to do with the Coleman’s split?
Two words: “Divorce Court.”
As in the syndicated daytime TV show.
That’s right; Coleman and Price are set to appear on TV’s “Divorce Court” on May 1 and 2.
It’s the most exposure the actor has seen since his stint on “Different Strokes” and he plans to make the most of it.
Among the litany of marital issues being discussed by Judge Lynn Toler are Coleman’s anger and intimacy issues.
According to show transcripts, Coleman and Price admit they have “ugly” monthly fights.
“If he doesn’t get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a five-year-old does,” Price says in the written transcripts. “He like stomps the floor and yells, ‘Meehhhh,’ and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too.”
If you tune into the show you will get the chance to hear Coleman defend his actions by saying that he gets frustrated because “the male is always the bad guy.”
“When I try to state my case or explain things to her or try to get her to understand my point of view,” Coleman says, “my point of view doesn’t matter.”
Price also complains that Coleman has no friends, a claim the actor cops to when pressed by the TV judge.
“I don’t have any friends and don’t have any intention of making any,” Coleman says in the transcripts. “People will stab you in the back, mistreat you, talk about me behind your back, steal from you. And they’re not really your friends. (They’re) only there because you’re a celebrity or because they want to get something from you.”
Ohhhhhkay.
So now we know that Coleman still considers himself a celebrity… and that the marriage was doomed from the start.
The “Divorce Court” episodes also give viewers a peek into what daily life is like for the D-list star.
“I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up,” Coleman admits on camera. “There are days I don’t even want to get up.”
At first I thought that the couple’s appearance on the TV series was yet another way for Coleman to keep his name in the headlines, but appears that perhaps he is using the show as a vehicle for others to hear his cry for help. I just hope he gets it before he does something more serious than abuse the sanctity of marriage (which is grave enough) to get the attention he craves.