Now, I was going to start off this post with 'Killing Willis' by Todd Bridges... but I didn't want it look bad with the first word being 'Killing' on Google. So, I thought to make it a 'Currently Reading' post instead.
Here in Australia, on one of the free-to-air cable channels, we have 'Diff'rent Strokes' tv show from the 1980's. It was a standard show to watch in my family as it was a rag-to-riches kind of thing and my folks insisted my brother and I watched something of a broad range of shows when they were on offer. And when 'Diff'rent Strokes' came out, it was new, interesting and - well - different. It was about two African-American brothers - Arnold and Willis Jackson - from Harlem in New York City who had lost their parents in an accident who were adopted by a rich, white family uptown. Now, the white family weren't without their own problems. It was just a father and daughter and they wanted to have more to their family than just those two; and chose Arnold and Willis. This half-hour show turned into something of a weekly ritual for us to sit down and watch. I don't remember how many seasons there were or how long we watched into those seasons, but I do remember loving that show and having a huge crush on Todd Bridges - hey, I was young. And I still think he's not bad-looking.
Anyway, I was perusing a bookstore over the last year and found a book written by Todd Bridges called 'Killing Willis'. It was all about his life after 'Diff'rent Strokes' and what happened to him, how he felt when he was seen out in public and how fame affected not only him, but Dana Plato and Gary Coleman. Being child-stars affected each one of them in a different way. Gary had a major medical condition that caused him to stay pretty much the same size he was in the show for his whole life; and caused him to become a very bitter and angry person. Dana Plato turned to drugs and never came out of that downward spiral in the same way Todd did. He knew there was a way out of that and worked hard to be the person he is now. And this caused him to write this book about his life.
But it wasn't until I picked up the book recently that I found it was a new edition with an afterward that Todd penned about Gary Coleman - about how misunderstood he was; and how the media turned Gary's life into something it really wasn't. I haven't read the whole book (I'm only two chapters into it) but from how far I'm into it now, I can say it's a very revealing, candid and honest story about somebody's life. I don't know if I've read anything like this before where the hurt, depression and need to be heard is so evident that I don't want to put this autobiography down. I haven't read a book like this since Danny Sugarman's book 'Wonderland Avenue'. I look forward to reading the rest of it.
Here in Australia, on one of the free-to-air cable channels, we have 'Diff'rent Strokes' tv show from the 1980's. It was a standard show to watch in my family as it was a rag-to-riches kind of thing and my folks insisted my brother and I watched something of a broad range of shows when they were on offer. And when 'Diff'rent Strokes' came out, it was new, interesting and - well - different. It was about two African-American brothers - Arnold and Willis Jackson - from Harlem in New York City who had lost their parents in an accident who were adopted by a rich, white family uptown. Now, the white family weren't without their own problems. It was just a father and daughter and they wanted to have more to their family than just those two; and chose Arnold and Willis. This half-hour show turned into something of a weekly ritual for us to sit down and watch. I don't remember how many seasons there were or how long we watched into those seasons, but I do remember loving that show and having a huge crush on Todd Bridges - hey, I was young. And I still think he's not bad-looking.
Anyway, I was perusing a bookstore over the last year and found a book written by Todd Bridges called 'Killing Willis'. It was all about his life after 'Diff'rent Strokes' and what happened to him, how he felt when he was seen out in public and how fame affected not only him, but Dana Plato and Gary Coleman. Being child-stars affected each one of them in a different way. Gary had a major medical condition that caused him to stay pretty much the same size he was in the show for his whole life; and caused him to become a very bitter and angry person. Dana Plato turned to drugs and never came out of that downward spiral in the same way Todd did. He knew there was a way out of that and worked hard to be the person he is now. And this caused him to write this book about his life.
But it wasn't until I picked up the book recently that I found it was a new edition with an afterward that Todd penned about Gary Coleman - about how misunderstood he was; and how the media turned Gary's life into something it really wasn't. I haven't read the whole book (I'm only two chapters into it) but from how far I'm into it now, I can say it's a very revealing, candid and honest story about somebody's life. I don't know if I've read anything like this before where the hurt, depression and need to be heard is so evident that I don't want to put this autobiography down. I haven't read a book like this since Danny Sugarman's book 'Wonderland Avenue'. I look forward to reading the rest of it.
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