80s teen film heartthrobs now – Addiction, health battle, career U-turn and famous kids

Iconic Hollywood film The Breakfast Club is 37 years old today.

The film featured huge stars including Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Hall, who all went on to even bigger success in the decade.

They joined other 80s teen heartthrobs including Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy, who were on the walls of thousands of fans across the world, following their appearances in films including Pretty in Pink and About Last Night, to name a few.

To celebrate The Breakfast Club’s anniversary, Daily Star has taken a look at where some of the decade’s most famous 80s teen film heartthrobs are now.

Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy was one of the original 80s teen heartthrobs and part of the so called ‘brat pack’ alongside Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe in films including Class and St.Elmo’s Fire.

However, it is his famous role as Blaine in 1986’s Pretty in Pink that cemented his teen heart throb status across the world, with the actor going on to new levels of fame in hit films including Mannequin opposite Sex And The City’s Kim Cattrall.

It was during this time that Andrew McCarthy also revealed that he entered rehab following an alcohol addiction at the age of 29 years old, telling The Washington Post: “I often had an image of a rock and a piece of metal soldered on top of it — and that was my drinking and my career.

He added that he has been sober ever since, adding: “It took me a long time after I stopped drinking to separate those. My success did not cause my drinking.

“It allowed me to drink better vodka. But it existed in and of itself and was just parallel to it.”

Andrew also released a book about his career during that decade called Brat: An 80s story in 2021, and revealed that he sent sections of it to Pretty in Pink co-star Molly Ringwald for her approval, with who he said “Molly and I have always had a funny sort of affection at a distance from each other.”

As well as continuing to act in hit TV series including Lipstick Jungle and Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital, he has also directed programmes including Gossip Girl and The Blacklist, starring Pretty In Pink co-star James Spader.

He also made a career u-turn and has become an accomplished travel writer and served as Editor at Large for National Geographic Traveler.

In his personal life, Andrew has two children and has been married twice – first to Carol Schneider from 1999-2005 and then to Dolores Rice from 2011.

Denzel Washington

Long before George Clooney in E.R and Patrick Dempsey in Greys Anatomy, Denzel Washington was the original hunky doctor in 80s TV series St Elsewhere, playing Dr Philip Chandler.

From there he has not left our film or TV screens since, gaining Academy Award nominations for films including Malcolm X and The Hurricane, and winning Best Actor for his role in Training Day.

He has also most recently directed the critically acclaimed film A Journal For Jordan in 2021.

It is not only fame he has found while acting however – he found romance, marrying Pauletta Pearson after meeting her on the set of TV film Wilma.

The couple have been married since 1983 and they have four children together.

A talent for performance runs in the family too, as his son is none other than Tenet actor John Washington, with Denzel shared how proud he was of John, saying to Metro: “By the grace of God, he had such success so quickly and once he got in it, then I was like, ‘Okay, now you got to go back and learn what you’re doing’, which he’s done.

“In fact, they’re on their way to Broadway next year. So he’s just grown as an actor, my oldest son.”

He also added : ‘My youngest son is a filmmaker, my oldest daughter’s a producer, my other daughter’s an actress… Not that I’m bragging!”

Emilio Estevez

Emilio Estevez was already from a famous acting family before finding success of his own, following in the footsteps of father Martin Sheen, and later joined by younger brother Charlie Sheen.

However he chose to change his name before launching his acting career, telling The Guardian: “My decision was met with a lot of resistance at the time, adding: “but it was abundantly clear to me that my father had earned his name and I hadn’t.”

He then rose to fame in The Breakfast Club and St.Elmo’s Fire, before cementing his status as one of Hollywood’s leading men in Stakeout alongside Richard Dreyfuss, Repo Man and the Young Guns films, for which his close friend Jon Bon Jovi wrote the soundtrack for the sequel.

However, he is fondly remembered by generations of fans for his role as Coach Bombay in Disney’s Mighty Ducks films, a role he has since reprised in the 2021 series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.

Emilio continues to act and also writes and directs, most recently working on the feature film The Public in 2018.

Although the actor keeps his personal life private, he has had a number of high profile romances including being engaged to St.Elmo’s Fire co-star Demi Moore from 1984-1986 and marrying singer Paula Abdul from 1992-1994.

He also had two children called Taylor and Paloma.

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe rose to fame at the age of 15 years old in the sitcom A New Kind of Family, before rocketing to fame alongside co-stars Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez in films including St.Elmo’s Fire, Class, About Last Night and The Outsiders.

However he revealed to People Magazine earlier this year that he hit rock bottom and checked himself into rehab in 1990, after his mother called him to say that his grandfather had died of a heart attack, saying: “I remember going into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror and my thought process was, “You need to drink directly from his bottle of Cuervo Gold so you can go to sleep, so you can wake up, so you can deal with this.

“Out of all the things that had gone on in my life, that was the thing where I finally went, “This is no way to live.” I went to rehab 48 hours later.”

The star has now been sober for 32 years and after appearing in films including Waynes World in the nineties, he has reached new levels of fame with leading roles in The West Wing, and most recently, 9-1-1 Lonestar, as well as hosting his own podcast.

In 1990 he also met his wife Sheryl, and the couple have gone on to have two children together called Matthew and Jake, with Rob adding: “From 26 on, I’ve invested in me; my spiritually, my recovery, my marriage, my family.

“A lot of it has been, excuse me, f*****g hard. And no one has a perfect life… but I’m grateful for all of it.”

Ralph Macchio

Every child of the 80s knows the iconic words “Wax on, Wax off” from the famous Karate Kid films, which launched Ralph Macchio to fame and heart throb status as Daniel Larruso.

The actor reprised the role in two further sequels, as well as starring in hit films including Crossroads, The Outsiders and My Cousin Vinny, as well as comedy series Ugly Betty.

Much to the delight of fans, he also most recently reprised his role of Daniel Larusso in the Karate Kid spin-off series Cobra Kai, opposite original film stars including William Zabka.

Ralph also married his childhood sweetheart, Phyllis Fierro in 1987, and the couple have two children together – Julia and Daniel.

He has since revealed that Daniel is named after his famous Karate Kid character, telling The Guardian: “There was a chunk of time when my son was like: ‘Did you have to?’ But now he’s proud of it.

“Unlike Ralph, Daniel is a classic, it never goes out of style, you know?.”

Ralph’s daughter is also a famous actress, appearing in films including Stella’s Last Weekend and Girl Most Likely.

He even starred opposite his daughter Julia in the most recent series of Cobra Kai in 2021, with Julia saying on Twitter: “I’m so beyond grateful to have worked with/been in the company of such an incredible cast, crew and team.

“Extra big thanks to the wonderful writers for the opportunity to join the party.”

Michael J Fox

Hollywood icon Michael J Fox became an overnight teen heart throb sensation when he joined sitcom Family Ties in the early eighties.

However, his leading role as Marty McFly in Back To The Future propelled Michael to worldwide fame, with the actor going on to play the role in a further two sequels, and also star in hit films including Teen Wolf, The Secret Of My Success and Doc Hollywood.

He has since continued to have leading roles in huge TV series and films including Spin City, Scrubs and lent his voice to characters including Stuart Little.

However he announced his retirement from acting in 2020, following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease 30 years earlier in 1990.

The star was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991, and kept his diagnosis private for a number of years, before discussing living with the disease publicly and in his memoirs, including 2020’s No Time Like The Future.

Speaking about retiring from acting and living with the disease, he told CBS News: “I have a wheelchair that I use every now and then and it still sucks.

“I have a hard time getting to a restaurant and up the stairs to where my family’s eating perhaps at a dinner.

“But then I’m there with my son and my three daughters and my wife, and friends of ours. And it’s just like, that’s great.”

However he added: “I still am Mr. Optimist. And I knew and in some small way, I knew in that moment, as dark as it was, that I would get back to that at some point.”

In his personal life, Michael has been married to his Family Ties co-star Tracy Pollan since 1988 and they have four children together – Sam, Aquinnah, Schuyler and Esme.

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves won viewer’s hearts when he flashed that signature smile in films such as Babes in Toyland, before going on to worldwide fame as Ted Logan in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

His teen heart throb status propelled into Hollywood fame in the nineties, appearing in hits including Point Break, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Speed and The Devil’s Advocate.

His role as Neo in The Matrix later shot Keanu to new levels of fame, with the actor renowned for performing his own stunts on set, something he has continued in future roles such as John Wick.

However, during this time he also suffered two personal losses, when his girlfriend Jennifer Symes gave birth to their daughter, who was stillborn.

The couple broke up a little while later and in 2001, Jennifer was killed in a car crash.

After appearing in a few films in the noughties that did less well at the box office, Keanu’s career has rocketed again after appearing in the John Wick movies, with a fourth sequel on the way, followed by the release of critically acclaimed comedy Bill and Ted: Face the Music last year.

However, Keanu revealed to The Los Angeles Times that there was also one role he would have loved to have played, saying: “When the amazing Hugh Jackman got to play Wolverine, I was like, “Uck, I would have loved to do that. But dang, he’s really good.”

Although quiet about his personal life, Keanu is also currently dating the artist Alexandra Grant, who he met in 2019.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk