Todd Bridges reconnected with his Diff’rent Strokes co-star Gary Coleman after an airline crew seemingly orchestrated a mid-air meeting between their pair by seating them together on a flight.
Todd Bridges reconnected with his Diff’rent Strokes co-star Gary Coleman with a little help from an airline crew.
The pair played bothers on the hit sitcom, but they grew apart in the last few years of filming and lost their friendship completely after the show came to an end in 1986 but Todd, 61, has now revealed the pair mended the rift after they found themselves seated together on a flight.
During an appearance at the Fanboy Expo Knoxville, Todd explained: “The first three years [of Diff’rent Strokes] we were all very close, and then Gary’s parents came and changed a lot of stuff … [We] weren’t very close after [the series ended] …
“I’ll tell you a funny story. I hadn’t seen Gary in years or talked to him in years. I’m about to get on a plane, and somebody says, ‘Hey, man, your little brother’s here.
“I’m like, ‘I ain’t got no older brother, what are you talking about?’ He was like: ‘Your little brother’s here.’ I go: ‘Dude, I have no idea … ‘ He goes: ‘Gary Coleman’.”
However, they didn’t meet until they got onto the plane and realised the flight crew had seated them next to each other.
Todd added: “So I go, and I walk in on the plane, and I’m getting ready to sit down, and they sat us next to each other. We were going to different places in New York, but I’m sitting, and he goes: ‘They set us up.’
“I go: ‘Yes, they did.’ So we ended up sitting there and talking, and that’s how we connected again.”
Todd went on to reveal the pair became “very close again” in the years prior to Gary’s death at the age of 42 in 2010.
Gary’s death came after years of personal and financial struggles and Todd previously claimed the former child star was surrounded by “the wrong people” at the height of his fame.
He told Fox News Digital: “That’s what happens when people get greedy. They tend to just take money … and steal things. We all lost some money to some people. The only thing that’s different in my life is that I made it through. I’m still here. I’m working and doing other stuff …
“As far as Dana Plato [who died at the age of 34 in 1999 after substance abuse struggles] and Gary go, unfortunately, they’re both not here …
“For Gary’s situation, I just think he was around the wrong people.”
Gary – who famously sued his parents for mismanagement of his income while working as a child actor – is thought to have earned $18 million throughout his career, but when he died he had a reported net worth of just $75,000.
Todd added of his friend: “It’s very important to speak out about Gary Coleman. People need to know who he really was. He was a good kid. People need to know that.”
Todd Bridges mended rift with Gary Coleman in mid-air meeting
