Diff’rent Strokes’ was one of the most successful and popular sitcoms in the late 70s and 80s on television featuring famous late star Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato.
The three child stars’ fame and fortune is revealed in Behind the camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes which airs on DStv Channel 138.
The story is neither cute, pretty nor funny as both Coleman and Bridges reveal in the film, giving their sides of the story.
“Show business”, said Coleman, “didn’t ground me up, but I am well chewed.”
Coleman sued his parents and manager for blowing his multimillion dollar trust fund and later filed for bankruptcy after the end of the series.
As for Bridges he jumped into drugs leading to repeated arrests and charges of different other crimes.
Dana Plato who does not appear in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes also had a share of an unhappy ever after ending.
In 1991 she was arrested for robbing a store with a toy gun and also served time in jail for forging Valium prescriptions in 1992, she died of a drug overdose in 1999.
Coleman died of an epidural hermatoma at the age of 42 after the making of Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes.
Coleman will always be remembered for his famous line, ‘What you talkin’ about, Willis?’
Diff’rent Strokes’ focused on two black kids from Harlem, Arnold Jackson and older brother Willis, who are welcomed into the family of wealthy New York businessman Philip Drummond and his daughter when their mother, his housekeeper, passes away.
Catch Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Diff’rent Strokes on True Movies Channel 138 on Tuesday March 29 at 2045 hrs.
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