I'm 17 and I used to watch reruns of Diff'rent Strokes with my whole family including my brother, who is 14. So I doubt you are too young to have known/care.
Honestly, take one look at that kid, and say that you do not feel that you will miss something from a guy that looked that.... awesome.
Watchoo' talking bout' Kamazar? I'm 13 and I used to watch some episodes as well. And his catchphrase is something everyones heard of... RIP. Gary Coleman. a world treasure
And yet somehow his death compelled you to post this little nugget. I was pretty shocked when I heard of his death. I used to watch Diff'rent Strokes in the early 80s, and liked seeing him pop up from time to time in my adulthood. His appearance in Postal 2 was hillarious. In fact, I just saw him posing in a poster ad for New York Fries for their "everything old is new again" campaign late last year at my local mall. RIP Gary.
In the uk he is not well known. However from what I read on his wiki it doesn't seem like he was a very nice guy.
Unfortunately the three kids on that show suffered from the child star syndrome. One of his cast mates committed suicide and the other was in trouble with a lot of different things. Many of the child stars of that era have been plagued in later years by getting into trouble and as you say not being so nice. It is sad that innocent children were exploited back then and turned out to be miserable adults. The problem erupted because while everyone is allowed to make a mistake, when they did they ended up on the cover of several magazines. Do a search on child stars gone bad - it will make you wonder why we have children in the public eye ever. And again while there are a million kids and people out there that aren't upstanding citizens they don't have a wiki on themselves outlining their crimes and wrong doings.
Plus, the guy had two liver transplants, one when he was 6. That, and the fact that his adoptive parents tried repeatedly to screw him out of the fortune he made on Diff'rent Strokes. If I were him I'd end up a little bitter, too.
I think it was kidney transplants, but yeah you get the point. He was the object of the rumor that he was the kid that died washing down the candy Pop Rocks with 7 Up several years ago (obviously not true.) But imagine if your first job was flipping hamburgers at McDonald's and no matter what you accomplished later in life when people on the street saw you they screamed - can I have fries with that - how bitter you would become very quickly. I honestly believe that you would want to show them that you are not that kid anymore and are so much more. Thus is the life of a child star. They end up trying to change their image in any way they can. Often what comes across to the public in a not so nice way.
