'Child Star'- the term brings up both fond memories of favorite tv shows from your past,
and a cringe-worthy expectation of exploitation, self-destruction and financial ruin.
While some child stars go on to live perfectly normal lives, and some even continue their
fame and success into their adult years, others seem to have lives that spin completely out
of control or try desperately to hang on to bygone fame and fortune.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
at eight child stars who went completely broke.
8.
Dustin Diamond
Dustin Diamond is best known for his iconic role as Screech in the hit 80's and 90's tv
show saved By the Bell, which followed the fictional lives of a group of high school
teenage friends living in sunny California.
But Dustin actually got his start playing Screech in 1988 on the disney Channel's Good
Morning, Miss Bliss, a short-lived tv show that was eventually canceled.
Upon cancellation however several of the characters, including Screech, were transplanted to high
school and helped bring the new sitcom Saved By The Bell to life.
It was there that Dustin reached his zenith of fame, as audiences fell in love with the
goofy and oddball, but lovable, Screech.
Sadly Saved By The Bell was ultimately cancelled after five seasons, though Diamond would go
on to star in various tv movies and a 1993 spinoff Saved by the Bell: the College Years,
which only ran for one season.
Reappearing as Screech again in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Diamond relived the role
one final time.
Though it lasted for seven years, New Class never achieved the popularity of the original
show.
After his Bell years, Dustin seemed to flounder a bit.
In 2001 he released an instructional video, Dustin Diamond Teaches Chess, and played bass
with the alt metal group Salty the Pocketknife.
He also returned to tv across a number of reality tv or game shows such as Celebrity
Boxing, The Weakest Link and Hollywood Squares, but for the most part worked as a stand-up
comedian.
Sadly, Diamond's greatest claim to fame came from his appearance in a 2006 sex video which
he initially protested, but then struck a deal with the distributor for a share of the
profits.
Allegations from the broker of the deal arose later that Diamond had intended the video
to be released all along and that he may have used a body double.
That same year he filed for bankruptcy and started selling tshirts for $15 a piece after
receiving a foreclosure notice.
Diamond's troubles compounded when in 2012 he was named in court documents as a beneficiary
of a possible Ponzi scheme, though no charges were filed.
In 2014 he was then arrested for stabbing a man in a fight in a bar, though he would
only be charged with a few months in prison and re-arrested for violating his probation.
7.
Edward Furlong
Born in August 2nd, 1977, Edward Furlong is best known for his role as the young John
Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
But Furlong's life was troubled from the start, with his parents divorcing shortly after his
birth and being adopted by his aunt and uncle.
Doing his best to stay out of trouble (sometimes unsuccessfully so), teenage Furlong was spotted
by casting director Mali Finn when he came to the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club looking
for young faces for the part of John Connor in Terminator 2.
Spotting Furlong, he invited him to audition despite the fact that Furlong had never considered
acting before in his life.
Despite his inexperience, Furlong skyrocketed to fame, winning a Saturn award for best Young
actor and an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Role for his performance.
Joining Hollywood heavyweights like Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, and Jeff Bridges, Furlong
appeared in hits like Before and After, Little Odessa, American Heart, and Pet Sematary Two.
He also appeared in Aerosmith's Livin' on the Edge music video, but true to the song's
title, Furlong quickly began himself living on the edge.
Striking up a romantic relationship with his 29 year old tutor Jacqueline Domac at age
15, Furlong emancipated from his aunt and uncle who deeply disapproved of the couple
for obvious reasons.
He quickly moved in with Domac and started down a path of drug addiction and alcohol
use.
Calling off his engagement to Domac in 1998, she accused him of physical and verbal abuse
before suing him for payment, arguing that it was her talents and not his that had garnered
him all his critical film roles.
As personal drama overshadowed his life, Hollywood quickly quit calling on Furlong.
Since then Furlong has attempted to keep afloat a floundering career by appearing in small
roles across a variety of films and tv shows, yet success continues to elude him.
Battling legal and addiction issues, Furlong became sober in 2006, the same year he married
actress Rachael Bella and welcomed his son to the world.
Furlong's lifelong struggles with normalcy may not be too surprising to him however,
as he admitted once that “I never thought I'd reach 21.”
6.
Erin Moran
Born in 1960, Erin Moran rose to fame in the 70s for her role Joanie Cunningham in the
successful sitcom Happy Days, even earning her own spinoff, Joanie Loves Chachi.
Getting an early start in show business thanks to a family friend who encouraged her to audition
for a child agent, Moran appeared in a commercial for First National Bank at age 5, and made
her feature film debut in the comedy How Sweet It Is!
That same year she started appearing regularly on television, playing the orphaned Jenny
Jones on the final season of Daktari.
She would go on to appear in several TV movies and popular programs such as My Three Sons,
Family Affair, and Gunsmoke.
In 1974 though she landed the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and played alongside
memorable characters such as Henry Winkler's Fonzie.
After Happy Day's cancellation, Moran appeared alongside Scott Baio in the spinoff Joanie
Loves Chachi, which while initially successful only lasted for 17 episodes.
Moran continued to appear on tv shows such as The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote, but
struggled to find quality roles.
Leaving TV life behind, she married Rocky Ferguson in 1987, but divorcing in 1993, she
remarried to Steven Fleischmann, a Walmart employee.
Despite finding small recurring roles or appearances across television and theater, Moran never
rekindled her career and lost her California home to foreclosure in 2010.
She then moved to a trailer in Indiana to care for her mother-in-law and enjoyed a windfall
in 2012 via settlement with CBS over merchandising claims for Happy Days.
However, Moran was reported to have moved out of the trailer that same year and various
accounts reported that she was homeless or living out of hotels as she battled substance
abuse problems.
On April 23rd, 2017, Moran was found dead at a trailer park in Corydon, Indiana, likely
from the complications of Stage 4 cancer.
5.
Jaimee Foxworth
Born on December 17th, 1979, Jaimee Foxworth appeared on the popular tv sitcom Family Matters
as Judy Winslow.
Prior to that though she had started modeling at the age of five and appeared in several
national television advertisements before earning her role on the TV sitcom.
Due to the low popularity of the character, the introduction of the much more popular
Steve Urkel, and budget cuts, Foxworth's scenes were continuously reduced significantly, until
finally she was written off the show altogether- although some sources speculate that it was
Foxworth's parents constantly demanding more money that ultimately led to the decision
to write her off.
Whatever the cause, Foxworth found herself without a role, and the fictitious Winslow
family would go on to acknowledge only two children: Eddie and Laura Winslow.
With acting work drying up she formed a short-lived musical group, S.H.E. with her two sisters,
but found little success.
Battling substance abuse and depression, Foxworth entered the porn industry and appeared in
several titles under the name Crave, banking on her status as a former child star.
Growing sick of the work, she eventually quit the business and is today raising a son.
4.
Dylan Sprouse
Known for his role in Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Dylan Sprouse was
born on August 4th, 1992 in Arezzo, Italy.
Moving back to their parent's native home of Long Beach, California, Sprouse started
his acting career in 1993 alongside his twin brother, Cole, as the two shared the role
of Patrick Kelly in Grace Under Fire until 1998.
Sprouse and his twin brother would both continue to share roles in film and TV, playing the
same character, for several years- appearing in movies such as Big Daddy, The Astronaut's
Wife, Eight Crazy Nights, and Snow Buddies.
In 2005 however he landed his biggest role as Zack Martin in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,
which ran until 2008 until a spin off, The Suite Life on Deck, which ran until 2011.
After the cancellation of Suite Life on Deck though, Sprouse had difficulty landing further
roles and mostly appeared in minor roles across tv and film.
Today Sprouse has opened his own meadery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and seems to be mostly
out of the entertainment industry despite a recent appearance in Camila Cabello's music
video for Consequences.
3.
William Aames
Known for the role of Tommy Bradford on the TV series Enough is Enough in the 70s, Aames
was born on July 15th, 1960.
He began his career as an actor in the late 60s, appearing in shows like The Wonderful
World of Disney, Gunsmoke, and Adam-12.
In 1976 he landed the role of Tommy Bradford in the comedy drama Enough is Enough and was
even in a band called Willie Aames & Paradise as lead singer and guitarist.
The group signed a recording contract with CBS Custom Label as Aames acting career seemed
to flourish, appearing his first film role in Scavenger Hunt.
Despite making an average of a million dollars a year during his time on Eight is Enough,
Aames quickly found himself out of work, and with no financial plan in place, completely
broke.
Virtually homeless, he stayed with friends when he could, but often slept in parking
garages or public parks.
In a 2010 interview, Aames says “I remember laying underneath the bushes thinking, 'Is
this how it turns out?
Is this how my life really turns out?”.
Aames eventually turned his life around and ironically enough- or perhaps because it makes
perfect sense- today works as a successful financial adviser.
After all, who best to learn how to manage your money from than a man who went from a
million dollars a year to sleeping in the bushes?
2.
Danny Bonaduce
Danny Bonaduce is remembered for his role on the beloved family series The Partridge
Family, a show about a musically inclined family with Danny as the bass-playing son.
Landing the role at age 10, Danny quickly grew a dedicated following and even released
a solo album in 1973.
Despite his overwhelming success though, trouble stirred at home from an abusive and caustic
environment.
Actress Shirley Jones, who played Danny's mother on the show, first noticed that Danny
was showing up to work with bruises, and her and the other cast members would take him
home with them over the weekends to keep him away from his abusive father.
After the cancellation of The Partridge Family, Danny's acting prospects began to dry up in
the late 70s, and with his money squandered by his family, he was at one point living
out of a car and nursing a very serious cocaine habit.
In 1985 he was arrested with 50 grams of cocaine in his car, and in 1990 he was found and arrested
at a Daytona Beach crackhouse.
Later in 1991 he was arrested for beating up a transvestite prostitute, though the details
remain sketchy.
Kicking his cocaine habit after three times in rehab, he formed a dangerous dependance
on alcohol that was documented in the reality TV series Breaking Bonaduce.
Since then he has appeared on several reality TV shows and made somewhat of a successful
career for himself as a radio DJ.
1.
Lindsay Lohan
Born on July 2nd, 1986, Lindsay Lohan is best known for her role in Tina Fey's 2004 Mean
Girls, and as a pop star who went platinum that same year with her album Speak.
Growing up in the wealthy Long Island suburbs of Cold Spring Harbor and Merrick, Lindsay
got her start as a child model and commercial actress at the age of 3.
With over 60 television spots and 100 print ads for clients such as Toys 'R Us and Duncan
Hines, Lohan landed the role of twin sisters in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap.
The Parent Trap's success landed Lohan more Disney film roles, including the remake of
Freaky Friday alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
It was her role in Tina Fey's Mean Girls however that turned Lohan into a legitimate star.
Launching a music career alongside her film career, Lohan's album Speak went platinum
in 2004, though her next album in 2005 didn't fare as well.
It was here that Lohan's meteoric rise seemed to begin to plummet.
With her lifestyle becoming the subject of tabloid fodder and her father's prison scandals
as well as rumors of her struggles with bulimia, Lohan began to see herself receiving a great
deal of negative attention that mired her career.
On May 26th, 2007 she was arrested after crashing her Mercedes-Benz into a tree in Beverly Hills,
and later arrested on July 24th after allegedly engaging in a car chase with the mother of
her former personal assistant.
Both times Lohan was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine, though below the
.05 grams required for felony charges.
With a life spiraling out of control she was rumored to have borrowed $100,000 from her
Scary Movie 5 co-star Charlie Sheen, and today she has mostly dropped out of the spotlight
as she runs a club in Mykonos, Greece with plans to open another in Rhodes.
The life of a child star can be filled with a great deal of pressure, and despite potentially
earning a great deal of money, there’s typically little if any planning for the future.
As many child stars have discovered, money and fame are both fleeting, though sadly it
can often be an exploitative family or self-destructive behavior that causes the real downfall.
So, who’s your favorite star from an old TV show you loved?
Do you remember watching any of the aforementioned stars on TV?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called 10 surprisingly high paying jobs!
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See you next time!