Corey Feldman was a dominant child actor in 1980s Hollywood, starring in numerous cult classics.
However, like many young stars, his glittering success was mirrored by devastating lows offscreen. At times life for the Californian actor mirrored a real-life horror movie during a rollercoaster career full of highs and lows.
The actor, who turns 53 years old today battled drug addiction, endured sexual abuse as a child, dated A-list celebrities and found solace in Michael Jackson’s Neverland. Corey’s career took off in the early 70s when he was just three years old, appearing in more than 100 commercials.
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“I was basically a slave child,” he confessed to People magazine.
(Image: Getty Images)
His domineering mother, a former Playboy waitress, kept him under strict control, often resorting to physical discipline to keep the young actor in check, he claimed.
By his mid-teens, Corey had won emancipation from his parents after alleging they squandered $960,000 (£780,000) of his earnings.
After a slew of minor roles in TV commercials, Corey struck gold, landing a role in a blockbuster film. The 12-year-old starred as Tommy Jarvis, the arch nemesis of slasher Jason Vorhees in 1984’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
Corey’s career took off after landing a role that catapulted him into the limelight, quickly becoming one of Hollywood’s most sought-after young actors. He starred in a string of iconic 80s films, including Gremlins, The Goonies, The Lost Boys and Stand By Me.
However, beneath the surface of his thriving career, something sinister was unfolding. In his 2013 memoir, Coreyography, he revealed that he was a survivor of sexual abuse.
He alleged that as a young actor, he was groomed, molested and introduced to drugs by another actor who supplied him with cocaine. “The biggest problem in Hollywood is paedophilia,” he told The Guardian in 2020.
(Image: © 1986 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
During this period, Corey formed a friendship with pop icon Michael Jackson, after meeting on the set of Steven Spielberg’s Gremlins. He described the Billie Jean singer as “like a brother”, providing comfort to him following instances of physical and sexual abuse.
“Michael Jackson’s world, crazy as it sounds, had become my happy place. He was adamantly against drugs and alcohol, he was extremely straight-laced; I couldn’t even swear around him,” he penned in his memoir.
(Image: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
“Being with Michael brought me back to my innocence. When I was with Michael, it was like being 10 years old again.”
Corey’s rise to fame was accompanied by a growing drug habit, which led to his arrest for heroin possession in 1990. By the age of 19, Corey had faded from the limelight and become a washed-up addict, almost unemployable.
He attributed his substance addiction to the trauma inflicted by the adults who should have been caring for him.
(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
After several stints in rehab, Corey claimed to have given up hard drugs by 1995. “It took people a long, long time to forgive me. I was just a kid making mistakes like any other kid,” he confessed to the Phoenix New Times in 2000.
Meanwhile, in 1989, 18-year-old Corey’s high-profile love life took centre stage. He briefly dated Drew Barrymore, accompanying her to that year’s Academy Awards.
That same year, he married his first wife, actress Vanessa Marcil, after a spontaneous 3am flight to Vegas.
(Image: Getty Images)
Their brief, “unconventional” marriage ended abruptly in 2002. To soothe his heartbreak, Corey found solace in the Playboy Mansion.
After his divorce, The Goonies star admitted to visiting Hugh Hefner and his bunnies over 3,000 times – at one point, he was there “every weekend.”
“I was added to the permanent list every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I would bring three or four girls,” he confessed on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast in 2022. Out of respect for boundaries, Corey “respected the boundary” and stuck to romantic encounters with the ladies he brought along.
(Image: Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP)
“These were his girlfriends. Stay away from his girls,” he further divulged.
In the same breath as that revelation, it was back in 2002 when Corey exchanged vows with Susie Sprague, an actress with dreams in her eyes, followed by welcoming their first bundle of joy in 2004. A decade later, in 2014, the couple called time on their marriage.
Brushing off the dirt from a series of fallouts and emotional blows, Corey bounced back as a musician and actor.
He has also championed the #MeToo campaign and the fight against childhood sexual abuse, shining a light on the dark corners of showbiz exploitation.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
