Todd Bridges Knows Exactly What He's Talking About: Drugs, Sex and Money Blown

By Nicki Gostin Posted Mar 20th 2010 03:14PM

Todd Bridges, aka Willis on 'Diff'rent Strokes,' has a memoir out, aptly titled 'Killing Willis.' Before you roll your eyes, this is definitely not the usual B-grade celebrity bio. It is a brutally honest account of his descent into drug addiction, the criminal cases that almost landed him in jail for life and his years spent as a drug dealer in South Central Los Angeles. 'Killing Willis' is a riveting read.

Do you feel you're lucky to be alive?
Definitely. A lot of people I was in rehab with are dead now. I can't really say why I made it. I really don't know. Maybe so I can be around to talk about why I'm here and maybe help people get closer to God.

Do you think if you hadn't of been a child star you would have gotten into so much trouble?
Yeah, I do. Hollywood had nothing to do with me becoming an addict. I was molested when I was 12 and I had a father who I lived in fear of my entire childhood and who, when I told him I'd been molested, didn't believe me. When you don't have a good father figure you try to find one, often through bad men. I found one in a drug dealer.

What was the lowest point?
I think [it was] when I was sitting on the porch of a motel with no shirt and shoes and I was locked out of my motel room. I was an addict for 8 or 9 years, but I've been clean for 17 years.

Have you reached out to Gary Coleman?
I sure have. He doesn't want to hear from me. He feels that I'm one of the reasons he has so many problems.

You had your first threesome with Dana Plato. I don't think I can ever watch 'Diff'rent Strokes' in the same way again.
Why?

Because you were supposed to be brother and sister, not getting it on!
We were brother and sister. We weren't getting it on on camera!

What's your take on Corey Haim?
I tried to help him, but he wasn't ready to get help. I think he couldn't find a place inside himself to be really happy. You know, addiction is so treacherous that it disguises itself into other things, like denial.

What do you think of Lindsay Lohan?
Everybody has their demons, but where are her parents? Fighting over her money. Look at her mom. Look at her dad.

You were earning 50 grand a week and you had nothing left when you finished.
My accountants stole everything and the government made me pay back taxes on the money they stole. They said you should have been responsible. I had to pay about $290,000 in back taxes.

You write about sleeping with a lot of women. Ball park figure. 10,000?
I'd say between 5,000 to 7,000.

You also write a lot about racism and being harassed by the police.
The police had nothing better to do than screw with me. They didn't like black people, and they certainly didn't like a black kid earning more than them. That really pissed them off. They would follow me and make me pull over all the time. Also, I just think that the black holocaust is not talked about at all. It's not recorded how many people lost their lives during the slave trade. I'm sure it was more than six million. We have not had an opportunity to learn about it.

Tags: Todd Bridges

Comments

(38)

Sunday 21 March

By Gigli

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Slavery in the U.S.andin otherpalces in the world has nothing to do with Todd Brdiges or anyone or anything else.
NExt, if he weren't a "Hollywood kid" he still would have been in drugs,legal trouble, etc.
it was IN him to do so.
Unfortunatley,he got a set of rotten parents as did lohan, Cgary Coleman and many other Kids Actors.
Money is ,by law ,in trust,so much of it anyway. Parents,agents,lawyers, get X amt. and taxes,then trust , by law,gets the rest. So Todd Bridges blew what money he had. Todd,like Haim,Feldman,Coleman, etc. were Kid Actors. They were not great actors, nothing more, nothing less,but Kid Actors. Few get in adult roles.
Life goeson.Move on.
Tod CRAVES 15 mins. of fame like the rest. No one owes them anything. Many Kid Actors move on and get a diferent life and a good one. Few stay in acting in adulthood.
He was on Joy Beher Show promoting his book.He also threw up a pic of his son who is a Kid Actor. Living vicariously is what he is doing. Let the Acting World go. It let you go. Move on. get a life.

By PitBull

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My Lord, angry much? The man is pouring his heart out & taking respondsiblity for his drug addiction and you're BASHING him for doing so! YOU NEED HELP!

By IntenseBlk

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Gigli,

Unless you are of African decent and conscious of the experiences our ancestors endured during the period of chattel slavery and the "continued" injustices we still endure, you are in no position to state that: "Slavery in the U.S.andin otherpalces in the world has nothing to do with Todd Brdiges or anyone or anything else" (the errors and misspellings are yours)

Monday 22 March

By Lori

The cops weren't harassing you because you are black they were harassing you because you were a criminal.........an arrogant one at that, mad because you made more money? Bet they were happy that they weren't a so called "child star" is more like it. Look at how the majority of them have turned out. Glad you got yourself cleaned up hope it lasts when you get depressed about not selling millions of books about your life story, it's the same story as many many others, dude the story has already been told over and over and over.

Saturday 20 March

By samantha

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I say everyone screws up once in life, and why throw away something special, work through the issues and if they cant be resolved then move on i think too many people dont even bother to try anymore.. what a shame, do you think our parents and grandparents had all happy times? NO.. and a marriage is work and if your not willing to work then why even bother?

By Beverly from Henderson, Nevada

Think about this......Sandra Bullock was humiliated publicly by her husband....the one she thought "had her back".....instead he stabbed her in the back by having a sleez affair with a total dirt bag.....I guess Sandra Bullock's mistake was marrying that load of crap Jesse James. She can and hopefully will make better choices in the future.

By Hey It's Me

Ummmm....Samantha? What planet were you born on? Sure marriage takes alot of work...and yes we all make mistakes, but, the jerk wad was making the same mistake for over a year. I would be heading for a Lawyer ASAP. Make a clean break, dissolve assets, arrange visitation and custody and move on.

By katie

Never met a Jesse I ever liked. Sandra , stay strong, keep looking up and this to shall pass. James acts more like "Billy the Kid"

By Anne

I wish Todd all the best and I hope his book sells plenty of copies. He deserves a break!

By anthonyakins45

give big nose sandra bullock a break katie its starting to stink.rest your mind katie go take a bath.

By racerx

It won't be long before Bridges and Coleman will be inmates together in some prison.

By Johnny

Just another black person blaming me for slavery. I cannot be responsible for all the black on black crimes here. The parents and so called peachers should do a better raising there kids.

By Janeyre

True, then perhaps Dana Plato, would be alive today... If her parents had done a better job...

By ciecheesemeister

Yep, iffen the teachers taught them peachers a a little better spelin and gramur, it wood make a wurld of difrense. There to blame, all rite.

By Carlos

He's married to a white woman.

By bev

I disagree, Jesse James acted like his name sake.....a lying, cheating rat bastard. True he didn't murder anyone, but he certainly "killed" his marriage and any trust Sandra Bullock may have had.

By Solange

I am happy for Todd Bridges, I hope he sells a million books but he should educate himself on slavery and it shouldn't even enter his mind ot begin with. He made millions , more than I, a white woman, will ever make, so he has no kick and he and his mother and father have never been slaves, neither has his grandmother. The Chinese were enslaved and the first slaves were Irish so he should read up on that. If he wants to do something about it he can go help the peope in his forefathers country of Sudan, there are still slaves there. Blacks have enslaved blacks in Africa since the beginning of time. Tired of hearing aobut it from rich blacks.

By starry118

And Hitler was also Jewish...so what? The Holocaust was still horrific and we know much about it. He never said anything about Blacks being the only people to ever be enslaved. He said that most people have not been given the opportunity to learn about the Transatlantic Slave Trade/"Black Holocaust" (which is true). It's very hard to determine exactly how many people died as a result of this, but scholars' estimates range from 9-55 million.

Slavery existed in America and has had a profound effect on this country and the rest of the world, because the mindset that fueled it still exists in America, and other parts of the world, and influences pretty much everything...it's called institutional racism. Personally-mediated racism also exists here. One example is that of racial-profiling, which he spoke about.

Much is not taught about slavery in schools. Most people act as though it isn't a significant part of history, but if that's the case, then the Jewish holocaust should be forgotten as well. The truth is that both of these atrocities are historically significant and affected entire races of people. We should definitely know more about the enslavement of the Chinese and Irish in America as well...why are some aspects of our American history taught and others aren't?

By Debbie

Why Terry? Are you jealous?

By chele

He seems like a nice enough young man to me. I could have done without knowing about his threesome with Dana Plato, but oh well. I miss Dana Plato.I felt sorry for her. She was very sick with drug dependency.

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