By Kerci Marcello

Once, they were the kids other kids wanted to be, but many grew up to be the adults other adults laughed at and pitied. They are former child stars and they make the headlines for which tabloids swoon.

They shoplift. They go bankrupt. They come out of the closet. They work minimum wage jobs. They enter drug rehab. They die young. No one seems to notice the child stars who grew up to be successful, happy adults. Instead there is an obsession over the ones who did not.

Have you kept with former child stars gossip? Find out!

  1. Gary Coleman has become the unofficial poster child for troubled former child stars. Since Diff'rent Strokes went off the air, he has done all of the following except:
    • Checked into to drug rehab center for a pain killer addiction
    • Punched a fan who called him a "washed up child star"
    • Told US magazine that, at the age of 31, he was still a virgin
    • Worked as a mall security guard
  1. Which former child star announced that he was gay in 1998?
    • Ricky Schroder (Ricky Stratton, Silver Spoons)
    • Danny Pintauro (Jonathan Bower, Who's the Boss?)
    • Jeremy Miller (Ben Seaver, Growing Pains )
    • Emanuel Lewis (Webster Long, Webster)

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