Celebrity

Adam Rich Former Child Star of Eight is Enough Dead at 54

Published

1 year ago

2023-01-09

Adam Rich Former Child Star of Eight is Enough Dead at 54

Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop-top who captivated television audiences as “America’s little brother” on “Eight is Enough,” has died. He was 54.

Adam Rich died Saturday at his home in Los Angeles’ in a Brentwood neighborhood, according to Lt. Aimee Earl of the Los Angeles County Medical-Examiner Coroner’s office. The cause of death was being investigated, but it was not thought to be suspicious.

Rich had a limited acting career after appearing as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the ABC hit drama from 1977 to 1981 when he was eight years old.

Betty Buckley, who played his stepmother on the show, posted on Instagram that she was shocked to learn of his death on Sunday and described Rich as a “light,” her “young pal” on set, and friend ever since.

“I adored him and loved working with him,” Buckley said, posting photos from the show of the two of them on a swing set, horseback, and with her arm around him while he slept. “He was so sweet, funny, young, and genuine. He made everyone on the show and our viewers very happy.”

Rich’s post-stardom public life was similar to that of other child actors whose promising careers were derailed by drugs and alcohol, as well as run-ins with the law.

Adam Rich Arrested

He was arrested for DUI in 2002 after nearly colliding with a parked California Highway Patrol cruiser in a freeway lane closed for maintenance. In April 1991, he was arrested for attempting to break into a pharmacy, and in October of that year, he was arrested for allegedly stealing a drug-filled syringe at a hospital where he was being treated for a dislocated shoulder.

Rich suffered from a type of depression that defied treatment, and he had tried to remove the stigma associated with discussing mental illness, according to publicist Danny Deraney. Over the years, he tried various experimental cures without success.

Deraney said he and others close to Rich were concerned when they couldn’t reach him in recent weeks.

“He was just a very kind, generous, loving soul,” Deraney said of his father. “Being a famous actor was not necessarily what he desired. He didn’t have an ounce of ego.”

Adam Rich opened up about his mental health on Twitter and revealed that he’d been sober for seven years in October. He admitted that he wasn’t perfect, citing arrests, multiple stints in rehab, multiple overdoses, and “countless detoxes (and) relapses,” and urged his nearly 19,000 followers to never give up.

“Human beings were not designed to suffer from mental illness,” Rich said on Twitter in September. “The mere fact that some people regard those as weak or lacking in willpower is completely laughable… because it’s the exact opposite! Fighting such illnesses requires a very strong person… a warrior, if you will.”

A modern day Mickey Rooney

Adam Rich shared an old photo of himself with one-time child star Mickey Rooney.

“Everyone used to tell me, ‘You are the modern-day Mickey Rooney,'” he said on Twitter. “However, when Mickey Rooney told me that himself, it meant a lot more to me!”

Adam Rich took part in a hoax created by Might magazine nearly 27 years ago about the actor being killed in a robbery outside a Los Angeles nightclub in 1996. The article was meant to be a satire of America’s celebrity obsession, but it fizzled when the spoof was revealed.

“I believe we were too subtle. “People didn’t get the joke,” Rich later explained to the Chicago Tribune. “I don’t want to die.”

Rich played the mop-top son of a newspaper columnist played by Dick Van Patten, who has to raise eight children alone after his wife in the show — and the actress who played her — died during the first season’s filming.

According to IMDB.com, Adam Rich starred in “Code Red” from 1981 to 1982 and voiced Presto the Magician on “Dungeons & Dragons” from 1983 to 1985. In two “Eight is Enough” TV movie reunions, he reprised his most well-known role.

The majority of his acting career, however, was spent in single-episode roles on some of the most popular TV shows of the time, including “The Love Boat,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Silver Spoons,” and “Baywatch.” His most recent IMDB credit was as Crocodile Dundee in “Reel Comedy” in 2003.

Business

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

Published

8 hours ago

2024-05-03

Kiara Grace

Los Angeles — Dan Schneider, a former Nickelodeon producer and writer, sued the makers of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” on Wednesday, claiming the documentary series falsely claimed that he sexually abused the child actors with whom he worked.

Schneider filed a defamation lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Warner Bros. Discovery and the other corporations involved in the series.

Schneider, a former teen actress, was a key figure in Nickelodeon’s dominance of youth culture in the 1990s and 2000s. She worked on sketch series “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” and “Kenan & Kel,” as well as as an executive producer on shows such as “Zoey 101,” “iCarly,” and “Victorious.”

The Sun – VOR News Image

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

He is also a prominent figure in “Quiet on Set,” which premiered on true crime cable channel ID in March. It has since been streamed on Max, creating a big splash among Nickelodeon’s former stars and fans. It includes cast and crew interviews to expose the show’s sexualization of young teens, as well as a poisonous and abusive work climate that many blamed Schneider for. It also contains accounts of sexual assault of young performers, including “The Amanda Show” and “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell, by crew members who were eventually convicted.

Schneider, who left Nickelodeon in 2018, claimed in the lawsuit that the “Quiet on Set” trailer and episodes of the show purposefully mixed and juxtaposed images and mentions of him with criminal sexual abusers to imply he was complicit.

“The portrayal of Schneider in ‘Quiet on Set’ is a hit job,” according to the lawsuit. “While it is indisputable that two bona fide child sexual abusers worked on Nickelodeon shows, it is likewise indisputable that Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.”

The lawsuit names Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of ID and Max, as defendants as well as the show’s producing firms, Sony Pictures Television and Maxine Productions.

Emails requesting comments from representatives of the three companies were not immediately replied.

The four-part series implies that Schneider’s shows had a tendency to place young women in funny situations with sexual connotations, and it portrays him as an angry and emotionally abusive boss.

Hollywood Reporter – VOR News Image

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

It includes direct charges of sexual harassment and gender discrimination from women who worked as writers for him on “All That.” They claimed he exhibited pornography on his computer in their presence in the writers’ room and asked for massages, joking that they would lead to the women’s sketches appearing on the show, which Schneider denies.

It also includes an interview with Bell, who claims “extensive” and “brutal” sexual assault at the hands of a dialogue coach when he was 15, as well as an interview with the mother of another girl who was sexually abused by one of the crew members.

The Associated Press normally does not identify persons who claim to have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Bell has.

Following the show’s release, Schneider apologized in a YouTube video for “past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret.”

However, the lawsuit claims that the show, particularly the trailer, unjustly implicates him in child sexual abuse by presenting photographs of him — including some with his arm around young actors — during discussions about an unsafe atmosphere for children.

The lawsuit seeks damages to be assessed at trial for “the destruction of Schneider’s reputation and legacy” caused by “false statements and implications.”

People – VOR News Image

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

Nickelodeon, which is not involved in the lawsuit, stated in a statement about the series that it cannot “corroborate or negate” allegations made decades ago, but it investigates all formal complaints and has strict processes for working with minors.

“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew but of all children,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement. We have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Ambulance Called for Britney Spears at LA Chateau Marmont

Published

1 day ago

2024-05-02

Geoff Thomas

Britney Spears and her on-again, off-again boyfriend reportedly got into a “major fight” at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles early Thursday morning, prompting the dispatch of an ambulance.

The singer is claimed to be healthy and was not brought to the hospital, but the incident has raised concerns about her health.

Multiple media agencies published photos of Spears on Thursday, showing her barefoot and clutching a pillow next to Paul Richard Soliz, with whom she has been linked since late summer, while emergency responders appear to transport her possessions on a stretcher.

It’s unclear what transpired in the hours preceding the Los Angeles Fire Department call. Spears addressed “fake” news in a social media post shortly after the photos were released, claiming she “twisted” her ankle.

An LAFD representative confirmed that an ambulance was dispatched to an address that corresponds to the renowned Los Angeles hotel.

“The LAFD received a 911 call at around 12:42 a.m. this morning [Thursday] requesting aid for an injured adult female at [Chateau Marmont], but the caller did not offer any specifics regarding the injury,” Brian Humphrey said in a statement to Yahoo News.

“One LAFD paramedic ambulance responded to the scene. At this point, it is unclear whether the paramedics encountered the injured person or provided any medical aid. The paramedic ambulance left the scene at 1:17 a.m. without taking anyone to the hospital.”

Ambulance Called for Britney Spears: Yahoo Image

Reps for Britney Spears did not respond to Yahoo News request for comment.

An eyewitness told Entertainment Tonight, “Britney went out with Paul Richard Soliz and others. Someone handed her a blanket to throw over, and a cushion covered her front.

She moved a few feet, turned around, and returned without getting into the stretcher they had brought out.” According to the site, a member of Spears’ entourage spoke with paramedics.

Police responded earlier this evening to a probable assault with a deadly weapon.

The Los Angeles Police Department said that officers arrived at Chateau Marmont “around 10:30 [p.m. on Wednesday] for a possible ADW suspect.”

“It was secondhand information from the caller stating the suspect was threatening people at the location,” according to a press release. “When officers arrived, all parties had left, including the caller. Officers were unable to identify whether a crime had happened.

Brittney Spears is home safely.

As previously stated, the superstar did not travel by ambulance. CNN quotes a source close to the singer as saying she is “home and safe” after a “major fight” with Soliz.

Who is aul Richard Soliz?

Spears has been seeing her former housekeeper since the breakdown of her marriage to Sam Asghari in August 2023. According to reports from September, Spears and Soliz broke their relationship weeks after it began, due in part to his criminal history. They eventually reconciled, though.

“She’s a phenomenal woman,” he told US Weekly in September. “She’s a very good, positive person… “She is a good person.”

Spears claimed on social media that she “twisted my ankle last night” and called out paramedics who “showed up at my door illegally.”

“Just to let people know… the news is fake!!!” the caption said. “I would like respect at this time so that people understand I am growing stronger every day!!! Truth stinks, so can someone teach me how to lie?

Goddesses out there, I’m reaching my higher power, and I hope you are too!!! … I also twisted my ankle last night, and paramedics arrived at my door illegally. They never came into my room, but I felt completely harassed.

Celebrity

Trump Awarded 36 Million More Trump Media Shares Worth $1.8 Billion After Hitting Price Benchmarks

Published

2 days ago

2024-05-01

Kiara Grace

AP - VOR News Image

Washington — Former President Donald Trump has purchased an extra $1.8 billion in shares of Trump Media, according to a regulatory filing this week.

Trump was granted an additional 36 million shares in the firm that controls his social media network, Truth Social, in exchange for the company’s stock meeting specific price targets. Based on Wednesday morning’s market price, this takes his overall holding to more than 114 million shares, valued at $5.7 billion.

CNN – VOR News Image

Trump Awarded 36 Million More Trump Media Shares Worth $1.8 Billion After Hitting Price Benchmarks

Trump, the probable Republican presidential nominee, now owns almost two-thirds of the company’s outstanding shares.

Trump Media & Technology Group shares have risen sharply recently, closing Tuesday at $49.93. To get the new shares, Trump merely needs the stock to trade over $17.50 for 20 consecutive trading days.

Trump Media joined the Nasdaq after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). These mergers provide emerging companies with a faster and easier path to publicly listing their shares.

AP – VOR News Image

Trump Awarded 36 Million More Trump Media Shares Worth $1.8 Billion After Hitting Price Benchmarks

On March 26, the first day of trading following Trump Media’s merger with Digital World Acquisition, shares of the newly combined business reached nearly $80 apiece in intraday trading before closing at $57.99.

Less than a week after its glitzy stock market debut, Trump Media revealed that it lost roughly $58.2 million last year, sending its stock down more than 21%. The $50.5 million profit the company reported in 2022 was significantly lower than the 2023 losses, according to a regulatory filing.

Mashable – VOR News Image

Trump Awarded 36 Million More Trump Media Shares Worth $1.8 Billion After Hitting Price Benchmarks

The company’s shares fell to roughly $22 in the following weeks before recovering in mid-April.Truth Social was created in February 2022, one year after Trump was barred from major social media platforms such as Facebook and X, previously Twitter, following the January 6 revolt at the US Capitol. He has been reinstated to both but has remained with Truth Social.

Trump Media’s stock sank 8.6% to $45.64 in morning trading on Wednesday.

SOURCE – (AP)