‘God’s punching bag’: The tragic life and death of a beloved American child actor

Gary Coleman was once the highest-paid child actor before a string of financial and health issues plagued his life. Here are some of the biggest revelations from the new documentary about him. Isaac Lozano reports

Coleman attracted the attention of figures from Nancy Reagan to Muhammad Ali for his role in the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes. (Peacock)

Child star Gary Coleman charmed the country with his famous line: “Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?”

At the height of his career, Coleman earned $100,000 per episode in Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1986) where he played an adopted orphan of a widowed white man.

Standing at 4’8 with a wide smile, Coleman was one of America’s most beloved child actors.

But behind the scenes was a darker story: a fraction of the $18m Coleman had made was going to him, and was instead being maneuvered by conniving business managers and parents who would later fight their son in court.

His untimely death in 2010 after allegedly falling down the stairs seemed to certify the last tragedy in his life.

Now, Gary, a new Peacock documentary, calls the narrative surrounding his death into question.

The show identifies Coleman’s ex-wife as the potential cause of his demise – though she was cleared of any wrongdoing by police – with years marked by lawsuits, divorce, and financial struggles.

A ‘superb talent’ with a vivid imagination

Coleman was born February 8, 1968 in Zion, Illinois, as the adopted child of Sue and Willie Coleman, who quickly recognized his dynamism and natural talent for entertainment.

“He was so smart,” said Todd Bridges, who played his brother Willis in Diff’rent Strokes. “He was so ingenious and funny.”

When Coleman was seven years old, a talent agency noticed him – a “superb talent” – and soon had the kid starring in commercials, movies, and feature films.

Diff’rent Strokes garnered controversy for its portrayal of interracial adoption. But it gained enough attention to attract visits from Nancy Reagan and Muhammad Ali.

With a love for outer space and a “vivid creative imagination,” according to friend Dion Mial, Coleman was an all-American star. But beneath the surface lurked deeper financial and health issues.

A defective kidney — and the pressure of commercial success

At age two, Coleman was diagnosed with a congenital kidney disease.

“That was devastating,” his father Willie Coleman said in Gary. The drugs needed to keep him alive would permanently stunt his growth, resulting in his small stature and child-like appearance. For over 25 years, Coleman would survive without kidneys and depend on dialysis treatments.

As his business managers, Coleman’s parents seemed more intent on keeping him smiling for the camera during his health crises as a child. Willie Coleman was once overheard insisting to Coleman: “You gotta get out there and you gotta work. You got people depending on you.”

Coleman would vomit after scenes and was reportedly unhappy. And ratings were going down.

So in 1986, after eight seasons, Diff’rent Strokes was terminated for good. Depressed, Coleman swore to never again work in entertainment.

But that didn’t stop the pressure from his business partners. “He resented that they were still pursuing opportunities for him,” Mial said.

Coleman became suicidal and would tell Mial: “Why isn’t anybody listening to me?”

A California law mandated that a quarter of Coleman’s earnings enter a personal account that could only be accessed when Coleman turned 18. Coleman’s parents had lifted over $770,000 from the account and placed it into failed investments (Peacock)

In 1989, Coleman sued his parents after an investigation revealed they had lifted over $770,000 from one of his personal accounts and placed the funds into failed investments. “Gary felt abandoned,” Mial said.

In a 1993 ruling, a judge found Coleman was missing over $1.3m and struck down an effort to put him in a conservatorship by his parents.

“I resent it and it still bothers,” Coleman said of his parents’ financial management.

‘She’s my soulmate’

By the late 90s, Coleman felt a renewed desire to return to entertainment. But he struggled to find movie roles and felt the public only saw him as Arnold from Diff’rent Strokes.

In 2005, Coleman landed a spot in Church Ball (2006), a sports comedy about a basketball team from a ward of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

While filming in Utah, Coleman met 19-year-old Shannon Price, who played an extra in the movie. All he wanted was “to find someone who he would love,” said his theatrical agent.

The pair would eventually marry in 2007 atop a mountain in Nevada. “She’s my soulmate,” Coleman would say.

But their relationship was tumultuous. The two would have physical and verbal altercations, and in some instances, Price would slap Coleman and shout at him: “I hate you.”

Coleman was granted a restraining order against Price but never served it. The couple divorced a year later, although they continued living together in Santaquin, Utah.

“All she wants is money, but there wasn’t any,” Coleman once complained.

‘I just can’t be here with the blood’

On May 26, 2010, Coleman had a routine dialysis appointment that morning. Price says that she was sick and had asked Coleman to microwave pizza rolls downstairs.

That’s when she heard a loud thump — and came running down to see Coleman laying in a pool of blood on the floor.

Coleman must have fallen down: he suffered from seizures and hospitalizations since he underwent heart surgery in 2009.

He was rushed to the hospital and was placed on a ventilator for two days, after which doctors allegedly told Price that Coleman would not make it. So on May 28, she took him off life support.

Police found no evidence that Price was responsible for Coleman’s death, but friends close to him do not believe it was accidental. (Peacock)

At 42, Coleman was declared dead of an intracranial hemorrhage.

But public observers and friends of Coleman saw a more sinister picture. They claimed Price could have pushed him down the stairs and killed him.

In her call to police, Price initially declined directions to apply pressure to his head wound and did not accompany Coleman to the hospital. “I just can’t be here with the blood, I’m sorry,” she told police. “I got blood on myself. I don’t want to be traumatized right now.”

And in healthcare documents, Coleman stated he wanted at least two weeks of care before any plugs were pulled.

“I can’t understand why anyone would pull the plug two days later, not two weeks later,” close friend and former partner Anna Gray says in Gary. It seemed Price “was more worried about herself than the person she was calling 911 for.”

“My 911 call was frantic,” Price says in Gary. “It was a decent amount of blood, and it just freaked me out. I did not want to intervene where the blood was, because I knew help was coming. It’s not that I didn’t help him. I helped him. Clearly, I helped him.”

Police found no evidence of foul play from Price.

But whatever happened to Coleman, “his life is definitely a cautionary tale,” Mial said.

“Gary did live a life fraught with so many disappointments. There were a lot of people that let him down.”

Throughout his life, Coleman repeatedly referred to himself as “God’s punching bag.”

And, in the end, it was perhaps Arnold — and not Gary — that was ever really seen.

“He honestly felt he never existed,” Coleman’s theatrical agent said, “because he was always Arnold.”