DANA LIED TIL SHE DIED PLATOS PALS TELL SALLY THE PRICE OF DRUG DENIAL
THE first time Paul Petersen laid eyes on Dana Plato, she had so much cocaine on her face that he had to advise her to wipe it off.
That was in 1989, when Petersen, a former child star from “The Donna Reed Show,” and Plato, the tragic former star of “Diff’rent Strokes,” were about to appear on Sally Jessy Raphael’s talk show along with Adam Rich of “Eight is Enough,” Lauren Chapin of “Father Knows Best” and Danny Bonaduce of “The Partridge Family.”
A few minutes after Paul met Dana coming out of the ladies’ room with white powder around her nose, Plato was telling Sally and her studio audience that she was clean and sober.
That was one of the stories heard this past Tuesday – 10 days after Dana died at age 34 from an apparent drug overdose – at a taping of another “Sally” show about the travails of child stardom. Petersen, 53, was in Sally’s studio at the Hotel Pennsylvania along with Gary Coleman, 31, Dana’s co-star on “Diff’rent Strokes”; Johnny Whitaker, 39, who played Jody on “Family Affair”; Erin Murphy, 34, Tabitha on “Bewitched”; Tyler Lambert, Dana’s 14-year-old son; and Joni Richardson, Tyler’s grandmother and Dana’s former mother-in-law. The show airs tomorrow at 3 p.m. on Ch.4.
Petersen told the cocaine story to illustrate how drug-abusers lie. He said he’s also a recovering addict. Whitaker is too. He revealed that he’d been sober for about a year when he became Dana’s manager six months before her death. Erin Murphy said child stardom isn’t to blame for Dana’s death. Petersen, who runs an advocacy group for ex-child performers he refers to as “vintage celebrities,” strongly disagreed with her.
So did Coleman. “This business has no net to catch you when you fall,” he said, describing what it’s like when child stardom ends.
Tyler and his grandmom were there mainly to describe their life with Dana. For the most part, Plato was more focused on acquiring drugs than she was with raising her son, although Joni said Dana always came home for Christmas.
As fascinating as that revelation was, the studio audience was really there to stare at the former kid stars.
Except for Coleman, who’s instantly recognizable at 4ft8, the audience had to guess at the identities of the other ex-child stars as they took their seats on stage during a commercial break. Coleman got the most applause, but Tabitha ran a close second.
Coleman offered to help Tyler cope with his mother’s death. He said, “We’re all people who loved your mother and we will share that love with you.” The audience applauded.
*
In the end, the Chicago City Council didn’t have to serve Jerry Springer with a subpeona. The daytime king has volunteered to come down to City Council June4 for a special hearing about the fights on his show. Some powerful council members in Chicago, where “The Jerry Springer Show” is taped, are trying to decide if Chicago cops should arrest Jerry’s brawling guests. That’s why they want to find out if the fights are real or fake. A “Springer” spokeswoman said Jerry accepted the council’s invitation because he once served in city government in Cincinnati, as a councilman and then mayor. “[Jerry] respects the function of the City Council, and he’s accepted their invitation to speak,” the spokeswoman said.
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Fuhnp7j25ma2hfma6vrYyloJ6cXam2rXnSoZxmnJmasW68y5qrqKtdpa6tv4ytnKWkXaiurbjYZquhnV2lv6qvxGamn2WUp8KoecOepaKZnGQ%3D