Childhood Stars and Addiction

December 13th, 2012 | Add a Comment

After hearing about Home Improvement Star, Taran Noah pleading guilty to cannabis possession, we at Treatment4Addiction got to thinking about all the childhood stars that have grown up and struggle with drugs and alcohol. Here is a list of our top pics. See if your pick made the list.

Macaulay Culkin – Best known for playing Kevin McCallister in the “Home Alone” series, cleverly making fools out of two very feebleminded robbers, Culkin is robbing himself of his own life due to a rumored heroin addiction. Though he denies these claims, photos taken of the star would suggest just the opposite.

Jodie Sweetin – We all knew her as the corky middle child, Steph Tanner from the famous show, Full House but she turned out to be not-so-good-girl after all. She struggled with an addiction to methamphetamine.

Haley Joel Osment – Sixth Sense’s, “I see dead people” star, Osment was only the age of four when he began acting, being featured in a commercial for Pizza Hut which set off his career. But Osment is no more after being cited for DUI and marijuana possession in 2006, ending a promising career.

Olsen Twins – Fraternal twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley have been in the limelight since the age of nine months, starring as the adorable Michelle Tanner on the hit show, Full House and their own hit movies but the attention soon got to them and they began living a downward spiral. Both twins struggle with addiction and partying hard, with Mary-Kate also battling anorexia. The once cute sisterly couple is now down to just skin and bones.

Lindsay Lohan – One of the most talked about mess-ups of Hollywood right now, Lohan was once a wonderful and talented actress but things don’t look so bright for her these days. Along with the countless rehabs and arrests for DUI, reckless driving, and others, she has yet been successful to overcome her addictions to just about every and anything you can think of.

Edward Furlong – Cast for his first role ever as John Connor in the movie, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Furlong has since terminated his career as a once promising actor, slowly parting from Hollywood’s lime-light due to alcohol addiction and numerous arrests. As soon as he leaves a rehab the clinicians mutter, “He’ll be back”.

Amanda Bynes – Just fairly recently, the once very comical All That Nickelodeon star has turned All That Drinking and Driving as she has accumulated three DUI’s in the months between April and August of just this year.

Corey Feldman – Former teen heartthrob, and talented actor, Feldman has starred in over 46 films but his role in drug addiction has cost him his fame. Arrested in the early 90’s for heroin and cocaine, he and his celebrity status have never been the same.

Todd Bridges – Known largely for his role as Willis Jackson in the former hit T.V. show, Different Strokes, Bridges, once a child star now turned criminal tsar with more than eight arrests on his record, everything from reckless driving in 1983 to attempted murder in 1989. He has since changed his ways, allegedly becoming a born again Christian, making news headlines in 2001 for saving an elderly women from drowning.

Dr. Drew Pinsky writes: “The child actor, Todd Bridges, told me a story where he started seeing little green men coming up from the floorboards of his home. So he began tearing up the floor of his home to look for what he called ‘the factory that my grandmother had put under the house to produce these green men to come get me.’ Ultimately, he got a gun and began firing at these visual hallucinations.”

Brad Renfro – Ironically enough his first role was in a play sponsored by the anti-drug organization DARE. Renfro went on to star in movies like “The Client,” “Apt Pupil,” and “Bully.” After recurrent arrests for drug possession, he died in 2008 due to a drug overdose. His passing was overshadowed by Heath Ledger’s overdose three months later.

These are some of the childhood stars that stood out for us. Did your favorites make the list?

Work Cited

F, Chris. “Top 10 Child Stars Gone Bad.” Listverse. Listverse Ltd., 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

NNDB, 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.