EXCLUSIVE VIDEO AND PHOTOS: Todd Bridges, Anna Gray And Friends Attend Gary Coleman's Memorial; Tears Shed
Posted on Jul 13, 2010 @ 06:45AM - 4 comments
A memorial was held Monday afternoon at Il Cielo restaurant in Beverly Hills for Diff’rent Strokes star Gary Coleman where friends gathered to remember him as a kind, generous man with a giant spirit.
RadarOnline.com was there and has exclusive photos, video and details of the bittersweet event attended by approximately 25 people.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: See Photos Of Gary Coleman’s Memorial
Todd Bridges was at the lunchtime event along with Gary’s former agent Robert Malcolm, the executor of his estate Anna Gray, his lawyer Randy Kester, former manager Dion Mial and several producers who worked with Gary and friends whose lives were profoundly touched by the star who died at age 42 on May 28.
Noticeably absent and not invited was Gary’s ex-wife Shannon Price, who posed for photos with the actor in the hospital on his deathbed while he was on life support and later profited from the sale of those pictures.
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“Her actions both after the accident and in the days following; taking him off life support so quickly, selling his trains, taking photos when he died,” former business partner Barry Greenberg told RadarOnline.com’s Amber Goodhand of his take on Price.
“I think those were all very strange actions.”
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When one person at the event called Gary a “little guy,” Gray spoke up and said, “No, he’s the biggest man in the world.”
That sentiment ran throughout the afternoon.
“This is a special day where the people who helped him or were his friends, can gather and discuss the good times in his life,” Malcolm told RadarOnline.com.
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The event started at approximately noon PT and lasted two hours. Guests feasted on calamari, eggplant, pesto pasta, salmon, chicken, mini sliders, chocolate covered strawberries, cream puffs and more.
A woman in attendance said her name was Tree Windsong and she was blind. She said she met Gary when she called into a Tucson, Arizona radio show that was running a “win a date with Gary Coleman” show. Windsong won and went out with Gary, leading to a friendship that lasted years.
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One friend of Gary’s talked about his fear of grass because of the germs he believed it harbored and recalled carrying him across her lawn so he could attend her birthday party.
At one point in his life Gary worked as a security guard. A producer who encountered him during this time pitched a project to Gary that would involve Emmanuel Lewis. The two diminutive stars met but things quickly turned contentious.
Gary one-upped his fellow celebrity by saying something he rarely got to utter: “I’m a foot taller than you!”
The story drew laughs throughout the room.
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“I can’t say that I was shocked,” Greenberg said of Gary’s death. “I know that he had all kinds of problems in life, all kinds of trouble, both medically and personally and it’s just very sad.”
Gray was still visibly grieving after the memorial telling RadarOnline.com, “I’m not ready to comment, guys. Thank you for the interest.”
EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTS: Gary Coleman Secretly Took Out Restraining Order Against Ex-Wife Months Before Death
More laughs were had when Gary’s former attorney, Randy Kester told RadarOnline.com one of his fondest memories of the actor.
“He had his pants tucked into his boots and I said, ‘Why do you have pants tucked into your boots?’ He said, ‘Well, don’t you think it makes me look taller?’”
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Reveals Loving Text Messages The Star Sent Her - Read Them Here
It was a low-key afternoon with Gary’s inner circle sharing the best memories they had of the star. Malcolm recalled Gary saying, “I wish you were my dad,” and it was clear by the time everyone felt that Gary had inspired a sense of family in his closest friends.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Gary Coleman's Pals Bashed For Excluding Ex-Wife From Memorial
Posted on Jul 08, 2010 @ 05:50AM - 22 comments
Gary Coleman's friends are being slammed for excluding his ex-wife Shannon Price from a memorial service honoring the Diff'rent Strokes actor, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Gary Coleman's Vindictive Lawyer Turned Him Against Me, Says Ex-Wife
Posted on Jun 29, 2010 @ 08:38AM - 35 comments
Gary Coleman's ex-wife Shannon Price has broken her silence about a secret restraining order the Diff'rent Stokes star had drawn up against her just months before he died – and she blames it all on his lawyer, in an exclusive new video interview with RadarOnline.com.
We first broke the news that Coleman prepared a restraining order against his ex in February, just months before she had him disconnected from life support. The document was under seal and Gary claimed Price had moved back into his home, against his wishes, and that she would destroy his property.
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But Price blames Gary’s actions on Randy Kester, the star’s former attorney.
“I believe that Randy manipulated him to go against me,” Price told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive video interview.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Foul Play' In Gary Coleman's Death, Says Ex Manager
Posted on Jun 09, 2010 @ 04:18PM - 21 comments
Gary Coleman’s death was not the result of an accident – that’s what his ex manager Dion Mial believes.
In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, Mial said: "I wholeheartedly believe there was foul play here."
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Coleman died in May after falling and suffering an intracranial hemorrhage. He was hospitalized and eventually pulled off life support.
His death, much like his life, has been engulfed by controversy.
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Mial is the executor of Coleman’s 1999 will – a will that may not be the Diff’rent Strokes star’s final one. As RadarOnline.com reported exclusively Wednesday, another will, drawn by a lawyer, will be made public in the coming days. We’ve learned that Mial is not the executor of that will.
Coleman was with ex wife Shannon Price when he suffered his accident. Price has come under fire from many of Gary’s old associates and friends for her behavior.
Gary Coleman And Wife In Divorce Court
She engineered the sale of photos of Gary in the hospital while he was hooked up to tubes and hours away from death. In one shot, she is leaning in next to him.
Her profiteering doesn’t stop there. She shot an interview the day after Gary died and that was sold to the media. She then shopped another interview, asking for up to $50,000. She eventually received a large sum for that interview too.
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“The picture that Shannon took in the hospital is much worse than people can see,” Mial told RadarOnline.com, refusing to elaborate.
"There is nothing covert about her behavior and how she has handled this.”
Gary Was Planning A Document-Style Show About His Life
And he refused to offer more information about who may have killed Gary and why.
“There are criminal intentions relative to Gary’s death,” Dion told RadarOnline.com.
PHOTOS: Gary Coleman Through The Years
Price’s rep has blame Mial for Price not being able to afford to stay in the house she shared with Coleman.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Agent Calls Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife's Profiting Off Death "Outrageous"
Posted on Jun 09, 2010 @ 08:50AM - 6 comments
Photographs of the late actor Gary Coleman on his deathbed were sold via ex-wife Shannon Price for a reported five figure sum and the star’s ex agent is blasting Price for her actions.
PHOTOS: Gary Coleman Through The Years
“In my opinion anyone who has their picture taken with the person who they supposedly love while they are on their deathbed is outrageous, unfeeling, insensitive, and not someone who loves the person!” Robert Malcolm who represented Coleman from 1992 until 2010, told RadarOnline.com exclusively.
EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's New Will Leaves Everything To Ex-Wife; Lawyer Claims It's Not Valid
Posted on Jun 07, 2010 @ 02:40PM - 11 comments
Gary Coleman’s new will leaves everything to his ex wife Shannon Price, RadarOnline.com is reporting exclusively.
The existence of this will, written in 2007, was reported by RadarOnline.com exclusively Monday morning.
And while Price is named as the sole beneficiary there is a big problem with the new will that makes it invalid, according to a lawyer involved in the case. Coleman died May 28 at age 42.
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The new will is a hand-written codicil to the 1999 will, attorney Kent Alderman told RadarOnline.com exclusively. He says he has a copy of it.
“It is one full page and was hand written and signed by Gary Coleman in 2007,” Alderman told RadarOnline.com.
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Alderman represents Coleman’s ex manager Dion Mial, who is named as executor of Gary’s estate in the 1999 will. And as RadarOnline.com reported exclusively, Mial stands to benefit financially from that will because of a trust provision.
But the new document, which is certain to spark a court battle, changes everything in that will.
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“It is something Gary Coleman sat and wrote it out in 2007 and it was one of the papers forwarded to me by my client,” Alderman told RadarOnline.com.
But Alderman claims that under Utah law the codicil is invalid because Price and Coleman divorced. “It is treated as having been revoked when a divorce occurs after it was written,” he said.
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“If they had remarried then the codicil would again be valid.”
Price told Good Morning America on Monday that the couple planned to remarry. But they didn’t.
Utah law will treat the new document from the Diff’rent Strokes star as “null and void,” Alderman told RadarOnlne.com.
PHOTOS: Gary Coleman Through The Years
“A copy of this handwritten codicil has been given to Gary’s parents, Dion Mial and Shannon his ex-wife has the original,” Alderman added.
“Utah has adopted a uniform probate code made by the American Bar Association that is followed by 38 states which deal the same way with this situation.
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“Gary made the codicil that left all his assets to his ex-wife in 2007 but then divorced in 2008 which means the codicil is null and void.” Alderman said if Gary had adjusted the divorce papers and made it clear the codicil was still valid it would be enforceable but Coleman did not do that.
As a result, he says, the 1999 will is the valid one.
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Somehow, we think Price may disagree.
EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's Ex Manager Slams Ex Wife For Cashing In On His Death, Calls New Will Invalid
Posted on Jun 07, 2010 @ 01:42PM - 4 comments
Gary Coleman’s ex manager Dion Mial is blasting the D’ffrent Strokes star’s ex-wife for cashing in on the actor’s death.
In a statement released to RadarOnline.com Mial calls Shannon Price “desperate,” terms Gary’s death “mysterious,” and asks everyone not to respond to any solicitations from Shannon.
Mial also claims that a new Gary Coleman will is “null and void,” meaning that the will naming his as executor would still stand as valid.
The new developments come as Coleman’s death on May 28 at age 42 has turned into a battleground of people with competing interests. His parents battled his ex wife over the funeral, the ex wife has been shopping tales of his life and death and now multiple battles are breaking out over the actor’s will.
VIDEO: Gary Coleman's Wife: "I Would Take My Own Life Before Harming Him"
Posted on Jun 07, 2010 @ 10:41AM - 17 comments
The controversy over Gary Coleman’s death continues, with his ex-wife Shannon Price defending her actions and claiming in a new interview that she would take her own life before harming him.
She also gave some details for the first time the circumstances surrounding how the Diff’rent Strokes actor hit his head – the accident that caused his intracranial hemorrhage.
Asked what she had to say in response to people who believe she pushed Gary, Price said: “I would never hurt my husband ever. I would take my own life before I would harm him.” Price made her comments to ABC’s Good Morning America in an interview taped Sunday and aired Monday.
EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Cashing In On His Death
Posted on Jun 07, 2010 @ 07:05AM - 13 comments
It’s been ten days since former child star Gary Coleman passed away, but it took his ex-wife only 24 hours to take to the airwaves in order to make some cash. And she hasn’t stopped cashing in since then.
RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that Shannon Price has been profiting from the death of her one-time husband, even trying to obtain up to $50,000 for an interview. She's even offering to give -- for a price -- a video tour of the house and where Gary fell and hit his head.
Gary’s fall led to the brain hemorrhage that eventually killed him on May 28 at the age of 42.
Executor Of Gary Coleman's Will Takes Over, Tells Wife: "You Have No Authority"
Posted on Jun 05, 2010 @ 08:04PM - 30 comments
The man named as executor of Gary Coleman’s estate says the Diff’rent Strokes star’s ex-wife Shannon Price has no right to decide funeral plans or deal with his assets, RadarOnline.com has learned.
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Dion Mial, Coleman’s longtime friend and former manager, was the late actor’s choice to oversee his estate, in a will he wrote in 1999
In a statement released to RadarOnline.com on Saturday, Mial said funeral plans are still “pending."
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Coleman's ex-wife had previously announced a weekend service in Salt Lake City for Coleman, who died after a fall at his Utah home.
However Mial said Price "has absolutely no rights or authority, with regard to the disposition of Gary's remains, services, estate management.”
Coleman’s last will emerged on Friday to be in the possession of Salt Lake City lawyer Kent Alderman, who will take it to a Utah county court next week.
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"We will submit that for probate next week and find out if this is the last will. We believe it is. Nobody's come up with a more recent one," Alderman said.
Mial was a friend and ex-manager of the diminutive former child TV star known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the 1978-86 sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.
"I am humbled by Gary's confidence in me and by his fearless friendship," Mial said.
"My life is transformed, because of his distinct presence in it."
As RadarOnline first revealed, Coleman's estranged parents abandoned their effort to bury him in his native Illinois.
PHOTOS: Gary Coleman Through The Years
"From the start, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman's intention has been to see that Gary's wishes be honored and that his affairs be taken care of properly," the couple's attorney Frederick Jackson told RadarOnline.com.
"They wanted to do things the right way, and they urge those still involved to do the same. The Colemans ask that everyone please treat Gary with respect and kindness. They feel it is time for him to find peace and let his spirit go."
The body of the 42-year-old actor, who died last May 28 of a brain hemorrhage in a Provo, Utah hospital, is now at Lake Hill Mortuary in Sandy, Utah.
Price, who Coleman divorced in 2008, legally now has no rights over his body.
It was Price, named in an advance health care directive, who ordered that the actor be taken off life support.
