Former “Eight Is Enough” Child Star Adam Rich Dies At 54!
Adam Rich, the adorable young actor who enchanted television viewers as “America’s little brother” on Eight Is Enough, has passed away. He was 54.
Lt. Aimee Earl of the Los Angeles County Medical-Examiner Coroner’s office confirmed that Adam Rich passed away on Saturday at his residence in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles. Although the reason for death was under examination, it was not deemed suspicious.
Adam Rich had a short acting career after appearing as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, in the ABC blockbuster dramedy that aired from 1977 to 1981 when he was just eight.
He sought therapy at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage after having multiple run-ins with the law involving drugs and alcohol.
According to publicist Danny Deraney, Adam Rich battled a form of depression that resisted therapy and worked to dispel the stigma associated with discussing mental illness. Over the years, he attempted numerous experimental treatments without results.
Thank you all for reaching out regarding Adam Rich.
If you knew Adam, you just loved the guy. And oh the stories he could tell.
Here is my statement: pic.twitter.com/3OITGnESuf
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) January 8, 2023
Deraney claimed that when they couldn’t reach Rich in recent weeks, he and others close to him became concerned.
Deraney told The Associated Press, “He was a very kind, generous, loving soul. “He may not have always envisioned himself as a well-known actor. He possessed no ego.”
Adam Rich shared on Twitter about his mental health and announced in October that he has been sober for seven years. He admitted that he wasn’t flawless and encouraged his nearly 19,000 followers never to give up. He mentioned his arrests, rehab stays, overdoses, and “countless detoxes (and) relapses.”
In a September tweet, Rich stated that “human beings weren’t built to tolerate mental illness.” “It is absurd that some perceive those to be weak or lacking in willpower because the exact reverse is true! To combat such conditions, one must be extremely resilient—a warrior, if you will.”
In his prime, Adam Rich shared a photo of himself with former child star Mickey Rooney.
“You are the modern Mickey Rooney,” everyone used to tell me, he tweeted. However, it meant a helluva lot more to me when Mickey Rooney personally said that.
Rich took engaged in a scam about the actor being killed in a heist outside a Los Angeles nightclub in 1996 that Might magazine published about 27 years ago. The piece in the obscure journal was supposed to be a satire on America’s fascination with celebrities, but it fell flat when the joke was exposed.
“We may have been too subdued, in my opinion. No one seemed to comprehend the joke, “Rich revealed to the Chicago Tribune later. I don’t want to pass away.
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As the mop-top son of a newspaper writer played by Dick Van Patten, who had raised eight children by himself when his wife in the show—and the woman who played her—passed away during the first season’s production, Adam Rich served as the younger brother to a generation of TV fans.
According to IMDB.com, Adam Rich played a lead role in the 1981–1982 television series Code Red and provided the voice of Presto the Magician from 1983–1985 on the Dungeons & Dragons animated series. He returned to his most recognizable role in two Eight Is Enough TV movie reunions.
The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, Silver Spoons, and Baywatch were among the most well-liked TV shows of the period. However, most of his acting work was limited to one-episode cameos. In 2003, he appeared in Reel Comedy as Crocodile Dundee, according to his most recent IMDB entry.