The ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ Curse Is One of the More Convincing
In reality, the premise of Diff’rent Strokes — two young Black boys, aged 8 and 13, left orphaned in Harlem in the ‘70s with no other family to take them in — would be the bleakest of tragedies. Fortunately, it was a sitcom, so they were taken in by their mother’s wealthy employer and nothing too bad happened to them outside of the occasional encounter with a pedophile bicycle peddler.
The same can’t be said, however, for the series’ young stars. Plenty of movies and TV shows are said to be cursed after a string of unlucky incidents and misfortunes to those involved, but the Diff’rent Strokes curse is one of the more convincing, as all of the kids on the show went on to heartbreaking adult lives.
The person who is probably most associated with the series as well as having a rough go of it post-finale is Gary Coleman, who already began life with an unlucky hand in the form of a congenital kidney defect and myriad ensuing health problems. His parents squandered most of the money he’d made as the star of the show, which proved disastrous when the work dried up. He was forced to take work where he could get it, including as a security guard in the late ‘90s, which exposed him often to disgruntled fans, one of whom got in a fight with him that ended in his arrest.
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He continued to experience financial and legal troubles, the latter of which mostly regarding his volatile marriage to a woman believed by many to have abused Coleman, until his death from a nasty fall and subsequent head injury in 2010. We’re not gonna say his wife killed him, but lots of other people have.
The actor who played Coleman’s brother, Todd Bridges, didn’t fare much better. After becoming addicted to drugs during the show’s run, Bridges turned to the supply side of the industry, which eventually led him to be accused of the murder of another dealer in 1989. He’s since made a career for himself mostly as a commentator for TruTV’s World’s Dumbest…, which is probably the best that can be said for anyone here.
The most tragic story of Diff’rent Strokes, however, is probably that of Dana Plato, who played Mr. Drummond’s biological daughter. She, too, faced a lifelong struggle with addiction that began during her stint on the series, which ended when she got pregnant by her rock star boyfriend at age 19. Subsequently, she lost all of her money to a crooked accountant, lost custody of her son and found herself working in a Las Vegas laundromat. In 1991, she was arrested for robbing a video store, resulting in a surreal 9-1-1 call in which the clerk reported in disbelief, “I’ve just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff’rent Strokes.”
She died in 1999 of a prescription drug overdose that may or may not have been accidental. Her sad story didn’t even end there: Eleven years later, her son died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, raising the question, can curses be genetic?
You’re welcome, any A24 producers who might be reading.
