Actor Gary Coleman was part of the Diff’rent Strokes cast for eight years, earning an eye-watering amount per episode, but he still died penniless at just 42 years old
Sitcom star Gary Coleman is yet another actor who passed away broke, despite previously being among television’s highest-earning child performers.
Coleman allegedly made an astounding $18million portraying Arnold Jackson on the popular American series Diff’rent Strokes after securing the part at merely 10 years old in 1978.
Throughout the show’s eight seasons, he collected an extraordinary $70,000 per episode, equivalent to approximately $210k in current currency. Nevertheless, the strain clearly affected the youngster, who was handled by his parents.
Based on The Independent’s reporting, Coleman would vomit following scenes and was allegedly miserable on set.
As time progressed, viewership began to drop, and it’s believed that the performer vowed he’d never participate in entertainment again.
Yet, that didn’t prevent his parents from forcing him into additional parts, and the publication states that Gary “resented that they were still pursuing opportunities for him.”
His father, Willie Coleman, was once caught telling his son, “You gotta get out there and work. You’ve got people depending on you.”
The beloved actor maintained television appearances during the 1980s and 1990s – and even starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will Smith and Married… With Children.
However, in another devastating development for Coleman, much of his fortune was being consumed to compensate his management team, which included his parents and multiple attorneys. Coleman even took legal action against his parents, accusing them of mismanaging his finances to the tune of $1.3 million.
He filed a lawsuit in 1989 after an investigation revealed they had withdrawn $770,000 from one of his personal accounts and invested the money into unsuccessful ventures.
Four years later, a judge discovered that Coleman was short of more than $1million and dismissed an attempt by his parents to place him under conservatorship.
However, this did not resolve his financial woes, and the actor eventually declared bankruptcy in 1999. By the time of his death in 2010, he was essentially penniless.
Tragically, Coleman passed away at the age of 42 due to an intracranial hemorrhage caused by a head injury from a fall. Now, Coleman’s ex-wife, Shannon Price, has seemingly failed a lie-detector test in connection with his death 15 years ago.
Appearing in the first two-hour TV episode of A&E’s Lie Detector: Truth or Deception, Price appeared to flunk two key questions about her former spouse. Coleman married Price in August 2007, but the marriage was short, and they divorced a year later.
Speaking to the camera in the opening clip, Price explains, “I literally, my whole life, have had the odds working against me. I’m really hoping for a good outcome.
“Not everyone is perfect at taking a polygraph test, but I have a glimmer of hope that this will work out in my favor, and people will be like, ‘Okay, you know what? She’s just a normal girl who had an unfortunate situation happen.'”
In a clip, ex-FBI agent and polygraph pro George Olivo asks Price three questions, “Did you ever strike Gary during your relationship? Did you intentionally decide to withhold help from Gary when he fell? Did you physically cause Gary to fall that day?”
After she answers, the polygraph indicates a false result when Price replies “no” to all three questions. As Olivo repeats and questions the results, Price simply brands them as “false.” The first two were inconclusive, while the third, concerning Colemans fall, was picked up by the test as “deception indicated.”
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