And as a final humorous twist to what is actually a very sad story at its heart (as it seems to me that everyone who was in a trusted postition with Gary Coleman—his mom and dad, his managers, finally his wife—fucked him over to get their clutches on the money that he was bringing in) now Gary Coleman’s lawyer said that GC and his wife were divorced back in 2008, and were just living together after that point.
If his (ex)wife really had something to do with his death, wouldn’t it be poetic justice (for once) if she never saw a dime from her little plan…
There are two enduring things other than “Whatchoo talkin’ 'bout, Willis?” that I remember from Diff’rent Strokes. One is Gordon Jump as the child molester and the other is the “HANDICAPABLE!” girl.
What a useless human being, his wife. She thinks he might be dying but she can’t help because she might gag? He dies while fixing her some lunch? Kee-rist. Poor guy.
Did they ever give more information on the accident? I’ve wondered if he hit his head on the edge of a counter top after the fall.
It’s a shame Gary allowed bitterness and anger to consume him. I found his recent interviews impossible to watch. There was no joy in his life at all. He could never let the past die.
Good grief. That’s … insane. Genuinely, psychotically insane. Who would do that to a kid? Hell, to anyone?
For that matter - at the risk of sounding callous, what studio counsel worth his salt would let this happen? I mean, there are so many, many ways that incident could have ended in litigation - even the coldest sonovabitch in the California bar would put a stop to it.
I agree, it doesn’t sound quite right. On the other hand, Gary Coleman was supposedly talking and conscious in the hospital before he faded into a coma. You’d think he’d mention something untoward.
The ex-wife has now done what any truly loving spouse, ex or current, would do and sold pictures of him on life support and then dead to tabloids. That is so sweet.
I have no respect for his parents, but I hope that whatever she received for those pictures they get from her with twice more in interest and punitive damages, the damned ‘rhymes with runt but less of an R and more of a C’. This is the same woman who wanted it made clear she couldn’t afford to bury him- I wonder if she will now.
How mercenary and just… skanky can you get?
Dana Plato’s skeazebag oxygen thief of a husband (or boyfriend, I forget which) did the exact same thing when she died: he shopped around pics of her dead body taken in the motor home before the ambulance even arrived.
What I’ll always remember- and I wish I had photographic proof- is that the National Enquirer wrote an article taking the moral highground about how sleazy this was and how they would never stoop that low even though he’d offered them the pictures. Instead they published an artist’s rendering of the photo!!!
Way to stand by that journalistic integrity you’re so famous for, Nati.
Asked how many thousands she received for her share of the photo sale, the former Mrs. Coleman stomped her left hoof twenty times and said “Wheeeeeeny!”
-Ex-wife has been stopped by court order from removing items from the house they shared even though she has no authority to do so (though admittedly it would be difficult to prove what was her’s and what was his with much of it).
-Coleman’s will has a sentence requesting his memorial service be
-According to co-star Todd Bridges, famously broke Gary’s estate could be worth millions due to his pension fund
Bridges also had some choice words about the former Mrs. Coleman of course. Bridges is, incidentally, seemingly a completely changed man from his “troubled child star” heyday: sober, solvent, happily married, etc…
I wonder if anybody could arrange an introduction between Gary’s ex wife and Dustin Diamond? I think she’d be perfect for him.
Off the topic, Geri Jewell played Jewel, the cleaning woman at Al Swearengen’s Gem Saloon in Deadwood. At 11 years older than Coleman, I doubt he would have given her much consideration. Besides, her life seems to be more stable. She was married to disabled-rights advocate Richard Pimentel from 1992 to 2002.