https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/04/24/erin-morans-final-days-fellow-former-child-stars-were-trying-to-help.amp.html
Erin Moran who played Joanie on happy days committed suicide Saturday. The head of the child star group comments a lot in the article. Says things like:
we were like family. We tried to help her. The past week half a dozen of us were doing what we could with the resources we had. She was in a dark room and couldn't find the switch.
I found the title interesting and the child advocacy guys comments interesting - as if they all struggled with child stardom. Is abuse the reason why?
Last paragraph talks about her writing a memoirs titled happy days depressing nights.
Here's the article:
The final days of Erin Moran’s life were plagued with instability as the star shuffled around various locations in Indiana’s Harrison County while her fellow former child actors tried in vain to get her the help she needed.
Moran, 56, was found dead Saturday by emergency responders after a dispatcher for the Harrison County sheriff's department received a 911 call.
An autopsy is pending.
According to the Indianapolis Star archives, the actress who played Joanie Cunningham on “Happy Days” was last known to be living at a Holiday Inn Express in Corydon, where she was spotted in September 2012.
Before that, it was reported the star had been staying in a trailer park with her husband Steve Fleischmann and his sick mother. The couple first settled in Indiana in 2011, the local paper reports.
Her distance from her California support system of former child stars may have contributed to her struggles, according to Paul Petersen, of the child-actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration.
“She was so far away in Indiana,” Petersen lamented in a Facebook post early Sunday morning. “The help she ran from was right here, as close as a call.”
Petersen, himself a former child star on “The Donna Reed Show,” said the group did its best for Moran.
“I am proud of our efforts over the years to help Erin Moran whose troubles were many and complex. Don’t doubt for a moment that we tried…sincerely tried through time and treasure…to give comfort to one of our own.
“At least a half-dozen [former child stars] were actively reaching out to Erin in the last week of her life... From Paris to London, from New York to LA, our members were in there pitching, doing what they could to help. Do not doubt that for a minute.
“Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue... We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.”
Moran admitted in past interviews that she struggled after “Happy Days” and “Joanie Loves Chachi” came to an end.
Still, she said in 2009 she had fond memories of her time on the shows and she seemed to harbor no ill feelings toward her famous cast mates.
"What happened with all of us was like we were this family," Moran told Xfinity in 2009. "It was so surreal with all the cast members. ... They were my family, get it?"
In 2011, she and former "Happy Days" stars Marion Ross, Anson Williams and Donnie Most sued CBS, saying they were owed money for merchandising related to the show. The lawsuit was settled the following year.
Moran told Xfinity that she had been working on a memoir, called "Happy Days, Depressing Nights."
"OH Erin... now you will finally have the peace you wanted so badly here on earth," co-star Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie, tweeted Saturday. "Rest In It serenely now.. too soon."
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quantokitty ago
Well, her first mistake was being a child. The next was announcing she was writing a book.
Lots of what is said is chilling. Especially this:
This is creepy given that Winkler was one of the co-stars she accused of abusing her. Pedo/RapeyWood is such a horrible destruction town if you don't play along. Ms. Moran could have been a Miley, a Angelina, a Rhianna being all tatted up and participating in playing The Queen in rituals, but she went the route of being caught in between. Tepidly venturing forth with allegations, she'd retreat into trying to normalize the situation and letting molesters help her get sicker. Very sad.
Godwillwin ago
I didn't know she accused anyone of abusing her.
quantokitty ago
Well, they've done a good job of scrubbing it. If you do a search, there's no direct quotes anymore. You only get hints of people saying they remember her saying 'something'. But, yeah, she made a couple of statements. One about Winkler ... and then saying something about molested multiple times by other cast members. And let me add this, she'd blurt it out and then go silent. You'd think she'd just keep going and tell details, right? But add in that the multiple abuse caused a multiple personality disorder. It would explain why she'd go quiet because if another personality took over to protect her from speaking out, that personality wouldn't necessarily remember all the details. I've met several women who exhibit signs of this multiple personality disorder. It's very strange talking to them . I mean, uber strange. They'll say one thing, and then immediately switch into someone else. It's disturbing to be around hence Ms. Moran being thought of as crazy, but what's even more disturbing is to think that things actually happened to cause this dysfunction.
Godwillwin ago
Yes. Very sad. So many starlets and stars end up with serious mental problems and addictions : Amanda Bynes, Miley, Selena, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Marilyn Monroe, Judy garland, Courtney love etc etc etc
The males end up with lots of deadly addictions too: Michael Jackson, heath ledger, George Michael, Bobby brown, cobain, and the list goes on and on and on
Parents should realllllly reconsider allowing or encouraging stardom of their children. Just the weird act of acting in and of itself seems unhealthy to me - especially when the actress or actor is a child whose brain, persona, identity etc are still forming
quantokitty ago
You make excellent points, but consider this: in Britain this doesn't happen to child stars. It seems Pedo/RapeyWood is the problem. It's very unhealthy, as is the notion that these kids aren't allowed to grow up. Do you watch TV? If you do, pick a British series ... any British series. Now watch an American series ... any American series. What will pop out at you is the difference in how grown actors look. In England, people ... and I'm talking women ... are allowed to mature. They have wonderful lines in their faces, double chins and look as if they haven't been unnaturally pulled by a surgeon's knife. In America? Everyone looks so fake and as if they're in Never Neverland where everyone is bound and determined to remain an unhealthy 30. If you read Ms. Moran's comments, it's pretty much what she echoes. How women aren't hired after 30, so the next best thing is to hideously preserve yourself so you don't age. You mention, Michael Jackson ... he's a prime example of it. Look at the lengths he went to to remain young. Yup, in America we got a huge big problem on this push to finance cosmetic surgeon's lifestyles. They've convinced us it's the route to go. It's Pedo/RapeyWood spilling over their culture onto us. Now women in Ohio want their butts enhanced ... why? Anyway, I did want to throw that out. The children from Harry Potter have all matured and gotten parts in filmed. They're not ostracized for growing up. Juxtaposition this against Mary Kate and Ashley starving themselves to remain small. Really horrible. It's Pedo/RapeyWood that's the problem and all the pervs that going into making that place so insidiously insane. I do feel so sorry for kids with aspirations. Actually, acting seems sort of wonderful for kids. It's why kids are always putting on plays and pretending to be characters. It's play and fun, but not when you mix it with rape, molestation, and abuse.
Godwillwin ago
Good point that imagination shouldn't be squelched. I'm getting extreme. It's acting in Hollywood that is usually very unhealthy for the development of a child.
I have always noticed that European women are "allowed" to age. Just the other day I read an article of a French girl always being amazed by the flat ironed hair, sun kissed tanned skin, and perfectly white straight teeth of female American foreign exchange students. Several years later she moved to America and was astonished that most of these flat ironed, white toothed, bronze skinned girls failed to get dressed before they left the house. She said everyone wears pajama pants and flip flops.
I thought that was funny. She's right. I see a lot of pajama pants and flip flops. I dress daily unless I'm doing yard work. But a lot of women no longer get dressed.
Sorry to go off topic, but I thought her observation was funny
quantokitty ago
Totally on point. No one worships youth like American sickos. And they're foisting it on the rest of the population. We don't care that you've been lipo'ed to death! Do something important ... like reveal the pedos raping children! That I'll respect.