Name: 10 '80s Celebs Whose Lives Took a Tragic Turn
Uploaded: 2026-01-05T16:55:55.000Z
Duration: 12 min 23 s
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And today we're looking at celebrities who were big in the 1980s who later suffered some degree of tragedy.

If you pity me, it's never gonna get to me.

If there was one man who could do it all in the 1980s, it was Patrick Swayze.

A classically trained dancer with a tough guy exterior.

Sweet Swayze became the ultimate Hollywood icon.

The romantic swoon of Dirty Dancing and the gritty action hero of Road House.

He wasn't just a poster on the wall in teenage girls bedrooms.

He was a movie star who defined masculinity for a generation.

You smash his knee, he'll drop like a stone.

But in 2008, the world was stunned when Swayze was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.

Known for his immense physical vitality, seeing him grow frail while fighting this aggressive illness was a profound shock to his longtime fans.

Despite a valiant battle during which he continued to work, Swayze publicly admitted that he was going through hell and eventually passed away in September 2009 at just 57.

And another of his co stars, Jennifer Grey, remembered him from the set of Dirty Dancing, which they did together, saying, when I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practicing the lift and the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see.

He never saw a rich white man before either.

As the star of Diff'ren're Strokes, Gary Coleman was the undisputed king of tv.

With his impeccable comedic timing and legendary catchphrase, he became the highest paid child actor on television.

However, his transition to adulthood was a heartbreaking contrast to his massive childhood fame.

Coleman suffered from a congenital kidney disease that permanently stunted his growth.

But his most public battles were of the financial kind.

So by 1998, Gary Coleman, who you said had made $18 million doing television, was working as a security guard.

He successfully sued his parents and business manager for misappropriating his multimillion dollar fortune.

He was left with shockingly little to show for his success.

He also struggled to find acting work, eventually taking a job as a security guard just to make ends meet.

His difficult life ended tragically in 2010 when he died from an intracranial hemorrhage after taking a fall, passing away at just 42.

Gary Coleman, who as a boy provided so much amusement, so many laughs on the hit show Diff'rent Strokes, died today in a Utah hospital two days after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

He was just 42 years old, and he battled illness throughout his life.

Boys, this hurricane that just blew in is my daughter Kimberly.

And speaking of different strokes, Dana Plato was the quintessential girl next door of the decade, playing Kimberly Drummond.

The show was a ratings juggernaut, making Plato a household name.

However, the immense pressures of child stardom took a heavy toll, as they so often do.

But just weeks later, Dana took a fatal drug overdose.

The end came 24 hours after a tearful appearance on the Howard Stern show in 1984.

Plato became pregnant, and as a result, she was let go from the show.

From there, her life spiraled out of control.

She faced severe financial ruin, eventually living in an RV and working at a dry cleaning business.

She also faced a flurry of legal troubles in the early 90s after robbing a video store and.

Tragically, Plato took her own life in 1999 at age 34, becoming a somber cautionary tale regarding the dark side of early fame.

She loved traveling, and this was perfect for her.

We're so very sorry to have to report this to anybody who's hearing it for the first time, and

we are going to end our show now and thank all my guests and good night and God bless Robin Williams.

After exploding onto the scene as the goofy alien morgue, Robin Williams transitioned into a global Superstar with popular 80s hits like Popeye and Good Morning, Vietnam.

He was the wildest mind in Hollywood, known for an energy that seemed inexhaustible.

But that brilliance made his sudden death in 2014 all the more shattering.

Williams took his own life at age 63, a tragedy that left the entire world shocked and mourning.

It was later revealed that Williams had been suffering from undiagnosed Lewy body dementia, a degenerative brain disease that ravaged his mind and caused severe paranoia.

The man who brought so much joy to the World spent his final days wanting to reboot his brain.

Most people think your husband killed himself because he was depressed.

River Phoenix wasn't just a teen heartthrob.

With standout performances as Stand By Me and Running on Empty.

Phoenix was hailed as the most talented actor of his generation.

He was an artist well beyond his years, projected to have a career rivaling the all time greats.

But both his career and life were cut short on Halloween night 1993 when the 23 year old collapsed outside the Viper Room in West Hollywood.

He died of a combined drug intoxication of cocaine and heroin, commonly known as a speedball.