The final days of Erin Moran’s life were plagued with instability as the star shuffled around various locations in Indiana’s Harrison County while her fellow former child actors tried in vain to get her the help she needed.
Moran, 56, was found dead Saturday by emergency responders after a dispatcher for the Harrison County sheriff's department received a 911 call.
An autopsy is pending.
According to the Indianapolis Star archives, the actress who played Joanie Cunningham on “Happy Days” was last known to be living at a Holiday Inn Express in Corydon, where she was spotted in September 2012.
Her distance from her California support system of former child stars may have contributed to her struggles, according to Paul Petersen, of the child-actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration.
“She was so far away in Indiana,” Petersen lamented in a Facebook post early Sunday morning. “The help she ran from was right here, as close as a call.”
Petersen, himself a former child star on “The Donna Reed Show,” said the group did its best for Moran.
“I am proud of our efforts over the years to help Erin Moran whose troubles were many and complex. Don’t doubt for a moment that we tried…sincerely tried through time and treasure…to give comfort to one of our own.
“At least a half-dozen [former child stars] were actively reaching out to Erin in the last week of her life... From Paris to London, from New York to LA, our members were in there pitching, doing what they could to help. Do not doubt that for a minute.
“Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue... We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.”
It's all just very sad...️RIP Erin aka Joanie Cunningham
ReplyDeleteThis is a tragic but yet another example of "history repeating" when it comes to the lives and tragic deaths of these child performers. After reading this and other BI blogs I wonder if like Kim Richards she too experienced child sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of Hollyweird predators. It's disgusting and sad that she won't be the last. As long as there are parents who are willing to sell their children for fame and all it's trapping this vicious cycle will continue.
ReplyDeleteRIP EM
I believe I read yesterday that she died of a heroin overdose. In any case, people cant help others if they don't want the help. She had to know this was available to her if she needed it, she chose not to.RIP.
ReplyDeleteI think there are more who have experiences with sexual abuse than those who don't. Hollywood grooms child actors in the same way any other predator does, they don't always pick the most talented or the best suited for the roles. The numbers of former child stars with drug and alcohol problem s are way out of proportion to the general population,and those are just the ones we know about.
ReplyDeleteAddiction is a bitch. RIP
ReplyDeleteTMZ is sayingy that she may have died from stage 4 cancer? Did she not know? How truly sad! It is so obvious that somebody really used and abused her. Rip.
ReplyDeleteShe probably died from a combination of cancer, a long history of substance abuse, depression, and inability to cope being out of Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteVery sad indeed
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the media saying she was a heroin addict when she had cancer. Maybe she was taking Oxy for cancer PAIN and people just assumed she was a druggie? Ever heard of fact checking? Geez...
ReplyDeleteShe had stage 4 cancer. What help is there for that? Was Fonzi supposed to provide a miracle cure?
ReplyDeleteThere was some story out yesterday that said she died from a heroin overdose, today the real cause of death came out after I wrote this comment at 11am this morning. And if you read this item, Paul Peterson is talking like she died from drugs not a disease.
ReplyDeleteNo prob. It's the media's fault. They don't fact check before they trash someone. They did the same thing to Brittany Murphy.
ReplyDeleteThere was a long history of drug abuse. Sadly, there's really no reason to think she wasn't a druggie.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad stroy all round.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad post too.
She apparently had head & neck cancer. Unfortunately, smoking and alcohol use increase the risk for these cancers, so while substance use/abuse didn't directly cause her death, it was a contributing factor. Still sad either way.
ReplyDelete