News broke this morning that child actor Gary Coleman had suffered a brain hemorrhage after a fall in his home and was on life support. I had planned to blog about that, along with the passing of Art Linkletter, but before I could get the blog done, Coleman passed away at the age of 42.
I’d like to say this is a tragic story, but most of Coleman’s life seemed tragic. He rose to stardom at an early age when he played the lovable Arnold Jackson, one of the adopted sons on “Diff’rent Strokes.” Just one line, “Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout Willis?” made Coleman famous.
But, things never seemed really rosy in his real life. Coleman suffered from a congenial kidney disease that stunted his growth and he would only reach a height of 4 feet 8 inches. The disease also required him to undergo two kidney transplants – one in 1973, when he was only 5 years old and another in 1984, at the height of his fame. Despite the transplants, he had to undergo daily dialysis. Coleman’s health had deteriorated even further as of late. He suffered two seizures this year, one in early January and one in late February.
It is estimated Coleman made as much as $100,000 per episode at one point, but he felt the funds were misappropriated and later sued his adoptive parents and advisers. Although it was estimated that he earned $2.8 million and won $1.28 million from his lawsuit, Coleman had to file for bankruptcy in 1999.
His career waned after his “Diff’rent Strokes” success. Coleman took any job he could, even working as a security guard at one point. Coleman’s life was such a mess that the Broadway show Avenue Q parodied him with a character that sang “It Sucks to be Me.”
No matter what he did, happiness seemed to elude Coleman. He secretly married Shannon Price in the summer of 2007, but even that went awry as the couple ended up on “Divorce Court.” Price was arrested in 2009 on domestic violence charges and Coleman was arrested under the same charges in 2010.
Coleman died at 12:05 p.m. today in Utah. The hospital released a statement which read, “Family members and close friends were at his side when life support was terminated. Family members express their appreciation and gratitude for the support and prayers that have been expressed for Gary and for them.”
(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)
