Gary Coleman’s former classmate: He was dealt a rotten hand

Of all the bad hands people have been dealt in life, of the people who I have known up close, compared to the starving in Mongolia, Gary had as about a rotten combination as anything I’d seen. I won’t give the details, but there was very much a horrifying tragedy about his life, a desperation that I think at age 16, was too big for us his classmates to comprehend or take in.
Blogger Richard Rushfield • Regarding his former high school classmate, Gary Coleman, who died on Friday. Rushfield makes it clear that Coleman’s great tragedy is that he was forced into a lifestyle that wasn’t normal and milked him of his fortune, but more importantly, of a normal life. “As I grew older and watched now from afar, the reports his life get stranger and stranger, it became more clear how much what had happened in those days had cost him,” Rushfield writes. source

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The play gave Coleman a tribute, complete with weeping. “Avenue Q” has gotten a lot of mileage out of making fun of Gary Coleman over the years, a fate which looked fraught with controversy in the wake of his death. But despite that, the show went on with him last night, and it looks like it’ll continue to go on with him. “After watching it tonight, I would miss him too much,” said the play’s book writer, Jeff Whitty. “Personally, I would miss him terribly.” source

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Gary Coleman’s story may be one of the saddest child star stories ever. Coleman, who died at 42, deserves respect from an obit. Doesn’t he? For nearly a decade, he was a pint-sized legend that ranked up there with Lucille Ball. Then it all fell apart. His life is a sad tale. Not only is he the ultimate example of how typecasting can ruin a career (although the four People’s Choice Awards did help soften the blow in the early ’80s), but he had all sorts of awful things happen to him throughout his life. A few examples:

Trust misappropriationSure, Coleman spent all of those years on “Different Strokes,” but he didn’t get rich of it. Why? Because his parents and manager reportedly mis-managed his trust fund. As a result, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1999.
trouble with the lawWhile we don’t exactly want to play Coleman as an angel with a halo over his head, we can’t help but think his financial troubles eventually led to myriad troubles with the law, including assault and domestic violence charges.
selling out his imageOver the last two decades of his life, he had to suffer through humiliating appearance-oriented jobs just to pay the bills. It’s pretty troubling that his last credited role was in a film called “Midgets vs. Mascots.” His entire IMDB is a mess. source

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Dude is on life support. In a coma. He’s suffering from a brain hemorrhage just like Bret Michaels was. Yet everyone seems compelled to make jokes because it’s Gary Coleman. Come on. Give the man a break – he’s had a tough life. Would you want to die that way? Seriously? source

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In your time of pain and suffering, may it increase upon you tenfold if you mock Gary Coleman. Prayer is what he needs.
M.C. Hammer • Throwing down the gauntlet against those mocking Coleman, he of short stature who is in a Utah hospital in critical condition today after a fall. Absolutely zero details have been released beyond that. Twitter’s chattering amongst itself. Best of wishes, little guy. We hope you pull through. source

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30 May 2010 13:51