I don’t know how many of you may have watched “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’” when it aired a week or so ago. If you don’t remember “Diff’rent Strokes,” it had a wonderful storyline – a wealthy widower with a young daughter adopts two African-American children from Harlem. But the made-for-tv movie was a look behind the scenes of the tumultuous personal lives of the three young actors that starred in it – Todd Bridges, Gary Coleman, and Dana Plato. Each seems to have suffered more than their fair share of child actor woes. Coleman had to sue his parents for the money he made as a child actor and has struggled to regain the fame he had as a child. Bridges was arrested and fell into drug addiction.
But, to me, it was Plato’s story that was saddest of all. She had much success early on, landing her “Diff’rent Strokes” job when she was just 14. But by 1984, she was pregnant by her musician boyfriend. The producers of the show decided that her character, Kimberly, was too wholesome to be pregnant, so she was written out of the show.
She found acting jobs hard to get despite the success of “Diff’rent Strokes,” an resorted to starring in B movies. In 1988, her adoptive mother Kay died of a blood disease. It seemed that Kay was Dana’s rock and she really slid downhill after her death. You probably remember hearing about her arrest in the early 90s for robbing the dry cleaners that she worked at for less than $200. You may remember that she died of an apparent drug overdose in an RV in front of the house of her boyfriend’s mother in 1999. Her death was ruled a suicide, although many (including Coleman and Bridges) thought her boyfriend, Robert Menchaca was partially to blame.
Now Dana’s son Tyler, now 21, has filed a wrongful death suit against Menchaca. It was filed just three days shy of the seventh anniversary of her death. Although the details are guarded, it is speculated that the suit claims that Menchaca failed to give immediate medical assistance to Plato when he knew she was in need. The suit seeks $200,000 in damages.
I feel sorry for her son; he lost his mother at such a young age and in such a tragic way. If Menchaca was negligent, I hope Tyler gets the money he deserves.
Other blogs of child star scandals:
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