Gary Coleman on 'Divorce Court': His Last Big TV Role

As the country deals with the loss of one-time child star Gary Coleman, who died today at age 42 after suffering a brain hemorrhage, the last impression for many television viewers may not have been his long stint on 'Dff'rent Strokes' in the 1980's but his much more recent and highly publicized guest appearance on a very different type of show: 'Divorce Court.'

Coleman's 2008 appearance on the show came as a surprise to many for the simple reason that most people didn't realize he had gotten married. But he had, to Shannon Price, an actress 17 years his junior whom he met on the set of the 2006 indie comedy 'Church Ball' and whom he married in August of 2007.

Even more surprising, though, is the fact that he and his new wife appeared on 'Divorce Court' not in an effort to end their marriage but in the hopes of fixing it.


And while the courtroom of Judge Lynn Toler may not seem like the most likely place to repair a marriage, her brand of tough love apparently did the trick, as the couple decided not to divorce after all. Their raw on-screen counseling, though, revealed a darker side to Coleman, as he unburdened himself of years of disillusionment with the way he was treated during his long Hollywood career.

"I don't have any friends and don't have any intention of making any," he said in a segment reported on by the New York Daily News. "People will stab you in the back, mistreat you, talk about me behind your back, steal from you. And they're not really your friends. (They're) only there because you're a celebrity or because they want to get something from you.

"It's not her fault," he added of the couple's frequent fights. "I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. ... There are days I don't even want to get up."

Sadly, Coleman's marriage did not seem to improve after their 'Divorce Court' appearance, as the local police were frequently called to their Santaquin, Utah home to intervene in domestic disputes. We hope that now, at least, Coleman may have finally found peace from the demons that were haunting him.

Here's another look back at Coleman's appearance on 'Divorce Court,' along with a follow-up interview from 'Entertainment Tonight:'