ALONG WITH his cherubic looks and megawatt personality, Gary Coleman was a prominent child star of his generation.
Fans were devastated when the Seventies favourite, who played Arnold Jackson in US sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, died aged 42 after falling in the kitchen.
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Fans were devastated when Gary Coleman died aged 42 after falling in the kitchen Credit: Rex
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The finger of suspicion fell on Gary’s ex-wife, Shannon Price, with whom he was still living Credit: Getty
And they were stunned when the finger of suspicion fell on Gary’s ex-wife, with whom he was still living.
A distraught Shannon Price says she found Coleman lying on the kitchen floor of their Utah home, his head in a pool of blood.
Out of breath, she called 911, telling the operator, “I can’t be here with all this blood.
“I’m peeling myself. . . I don’t want to be traumatized now.”
READ MORE ABOUT CELEBRITY DEATHS
Shannon did not go to hospital with Gary at the time and was taken off his life support two days after the fall – despite his wishes to be kept alive for two weeks in the event of a medical disaster.
I would never hurt my husband. I slapped him a few times, I mean no big deal. People fight. If you deny it, you are crazy
Shannon Price
Now a new documentary explores what happened to Gary on the day he was found fatally injured in May 2010.
Shannon is as defiant as ever, insisting to the show’s creators, “I would never hurt my husband . . . ever.”
‘Sad end of inheritance’
But she goes on to admit that she had previously hit Coleman, who was only 4ft 8in tall, saying: “I slapped him a couple of times, I mean no big deal, nothing, like, a red flag.
“People are hitting each other, hitting each other. People do it.
“If you deny it, you are crazy.
Charlotte Rae stars as Mrs. Garrett opposite Gary Coleman in Diff’rent Strokes
“The fact that people are saying, ‘She killed Gary. She pushed him down the stairs’. It really hurts me.”
In the documentary for streaming service Peacock, simply titled Gary, the actor’s lawyer says the couple had a “tumultuous relationship” with Price mocking her husband’s size, while friends say there are still “questions to be answered” about his death.
One said Shannon was “lewd” after selling a picture of her husband on his deathbed – a move she defended saying “people needed to see what he went through”.
Police investigated Gary’s fall and found no fault, while the coroner concluded it was an “accident”.
But Shannon has repeatedly felt compelled to deny her role in it.
The suspense and drama surrounding the actor’s death is a sad end to the legacy of a man once adored by millions around the world.
Gary was just ten years old when he was cast as Arnold on NBC’s Diff’rent Strokes, playing one of two orphans adopted by a wealthy white man.
The show has attracted guest appearances from the likes of boxer Muhammad Ali, 1980s actor Mr T and then-First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Gary was paid £75,000 per episode, making him the highest-paid child actor at the time.
But behind all the glitz and glamour, his life was tinged with sadness.
He suffered from a congenital kidney disease, and his growth was stunted by the drugs he was taking to keep him alive.
Gary had two kidney transplants when he was five and 17, but they failed, and he ended up spending 25 years on dialysis.
His co-star Todd Bridges claims that Gary’s dad Willie pushed him to perform, even when he was sick, telling him: “People depend on you.”
When Diff’rent Strokes came to an end in 1986 after eight years of running, Gary struggled to get work after being cast.
He came to hate his immortal catchphrase, ‘What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?’, which he used to target his movie brother, played by Todd.
Depressed, he vowed never to work in show business again, but things took a darker turn when he sued his mother, Sue, and father, Willie, for unrealized earnings.
‘God’s punching bag’
Coleman discovered a black hole in his finances and blamed his parents and business advisor for mismanagement.
He took the case to court in 1989 and eventually won a £900,000 claim involving his own mum and dad.
They later tried to put him under Britney Spears-style custody, which would have given them full control of their son, but the judge immediately rejected it.
Best friend Dion Mial tells the show: “Gary felt not only betrayed but completely abandoned by the people closest to him.”
Both Willie and Sue have repeatedly denied knowingly misusing the money, and his father called Gary’s friend Dion a “demon” in the documentary.
In the midst of bouts of depression and suicide threats, in 1997 Gary met Anna Gray, who was working at a Blockbuster store in California, and the couple began living together.
While they were close, Anna says Gary was never interested in sex, but “was very romantic and liked to hold hands, kiss and cuddle”.
Acting work almost dried up and Anna says people treated him like a “coin arcade”, constantly asking him to recite his famous catchphrase.
He also hated being asked for autographs.
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Gary played Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff’rent Strokes Credits: Rex
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Police photo of Gary after his arrest in 2010. Credit: Rex
He pleaded no contest to a 1998 altercation with a fan who spotted him working as a security guard at a California mall.
The following year, Gary filed for bankruptcy.
His romance with Anna ended and in 2007 he started dating Shannon Price.
They met when Gary went to Utah to film Church Ball, where she worked as an extra.
He was 40 and she was 22 when they married in 2007 on a remote hill in Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park.
The couple ran into problems almost immediately and, in an unaired clip from the TV show, Gary accuses Shannon of only being interested in his money.
Shortly after they married, he was accused of misconduct after a “heated argument” with her in public.
Sometimes they seemed happy and joking, and the moment they put in a coin, they would become angry, shouting, humiliating, belittling
Gary’s attorney, Randy Kester
The actor’s lawyer, Randy Kester, told the producers of Gary, which is due to be released in the UK soon, that the couple had a “tumultuous” relationship.
And he hinted that he wished the star had cut Shannon out of his life after their split rather than continue living with her.
He added: “Sometimes they seemed happy and joking, and in a moment they would become angry, shouting, humiliating, disparaging.
“It was every day – she was doing something, creating drama, demeaning his masculinity, demeaning his greatness, sometimes calling him a failure.
“I always hoped that one day he would come to me and say, ‘I’m done and I need him out of my life.’
“I was sad for him that he didn’t get to that point.
“Gary and I have discussed the restraining order numerous times – he just couldn’t deal with it anymore.”
Gary had just finished a morning of dialysis in May 2010 when Shannon, who says she was upstairs, asked him to put a pizza in the oven.
She says in the documentary that she heard a bang and ran downstairs to find the star lying on the kitchen floor with blood dripping from a head injury.
In a chilling 911 call, the operator asks Price to make sure Coleman puts pressure on his wound, but she replies, “No, I can’t, it’s all bloody… . . he is not with it.”
Shannon tells the operator that she’s having a seizure and doesn’t want to be “traumatized right now.”
Gary’s friends question her behaviour, with his ex, Anna Gray, saying: “She was more concerned about herself than the person she was calling 911 about.
“I think her actions speak volumes.”
Another close ally, Brandi Buys, said: “Personally, in my opinion, I don’t think he went down . . . There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t know what I can say without getting sued.”
Best friend Dion pointed out that Coleman “didn’t have to fall that far to cause such a significant injury.”
“It just begs the question and the question,” he added.
“She [Shannon] watched as he was loaded into the ambulance and returned to the house.
“Gary was alone.”
In response, Shannon says she believed her husband was going to be “stitched up” at the hospital and sent home, and that she was “not in a good mood” to go with him.
She revealed she spoke to him on the phone while he was receiving treatment, in which they said they loved each other – and was shocked when she later got a call to say Gary, who had an intracranial haemorrhage, had gone into cardiac arrest.
The actor had paperwork that said he wanted at least two weeks of care before being taken off life support if he became seriously ill.
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Coleman with parents Sue and Willie Coleman Credit: Rex
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Gary and Shannon at their wedding
But Shannon points out that it also stated that the machines could be turned off if nothing could be done.
Recalling the moment she said goodbye to her husband, she said: “I walked in there and said everything I needed to say — ‘I love you, I’m going to miss you, you’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me’. life and you were really loved and cared about’.
“The decision to take him off life support was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Gary’s best friend Dion was horrified when Shannon sold his hospital pictures to an American tabloid mag.
He said: “It was one of the most depraved acts I have ever seen done to another human being.
“Throughout his life, Coleman repeatedly referred to himself as ‘God’s punching bag.’
“Gary lived a life full of so many disappointments.
“There were many people who failed him.”
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Source: HIS Education