Some of the former child stars have openly discussed their lives of confronting numerous issues in life, including drug abuse, homelessness, etc.
The strains of fame at an early age, exposure to media and insufficient mentoring usually add to these challenges. And here is the list of former child actors who have fought all of these, with the recent case of Tylor Chase, who played Martin Qwerly in the Nickelodeon show.
Tylor Chase
One of the videos had recently gone viral, where Tylor Chase was caught living on the streets in California. His state has raised eyebrows among netizen,s and they are confused about how he found himself on the streets.
IMDb says that his first acting job was in the role of Martin on Ned School Survival Guide on Declassified. It aired for three seasons: 2004-2007. He was reportedly the entrant into the entertainment industry, with a talent finding platform, Proscout.
JUST IN: Actor Daniel Curtis Lee, who starred in Ned’s Declassified on Nickelodeon with Tylor Chase, takes Chase out to lunch before checking him into a hotel.
Chase has gone viral in recent weeks after fans learned he was living on the streets of Riverside, CA.
Lee, who played… pic.twitter.com/UeGNMzLflx
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 24, 2025
Todd Bridges
Todd Bridges of Diff’rent Strokes got addicted to cocaine as a teenager. Once the show was over his life got into a downward spiral of legal issues, drug abuse and homelessness. Bridges has been frank in talking about his life on the streets and his engagement in crime before later getting into recovery and changing his life.
Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes, a big child star in Nickelodeon programs such as All That and The Amanda Show, matured to have serious mental health problems and drug abuse problems. She has been reported to be homeless over the past years, at one time living on the streets before taking psychiatric treatment. Even though addiction and mental illness were the main points of her conflicts, she has since undertaken treatment.
Lillo Brancato Jr.
Lillo Brancato Jr., who played a child and a teenager in such movies as A Bronx Tale, got addicted to heroin in his early adult years. He has been homeless and has been jailed after he had a fatal accident during a burglary. Brancato has gone on to talk publicly on addiction, prison, and recovery.
Corey Haim
Corey Haim came to fame in the 1980s through movies such as The Lost Boys and License to Drive. Haim experienced years of extremely hard drug addiction despite the enormous success in his teenage years that started during his childhood as an actor. As an adult, he experienced recurrent financial issues and homelessness, at one point living with his friends. He was killed in 2010 due to pneumonia, and the substance abuse had over the years taken its toll on his health.
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore was a celebrity at the age of six through the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At the age of nine years, she was already drinking alcohol and at an early age of adolescence, she was already addicted to cocaine. She was briefly institutionalised at 14, and legally emancipated from her parents. Barrymore has talked about the severe instability and the feeling of emotional abandonment that she experienced, but her life and career were restored by sobriety and self-control.
Danny Bonaduce
Danny Bonaduce, the most famous child star in The Partridge Family, has had a substance abuse problem all his adult life. Although he has publicly confessed to being an addict of both cocaine and alcohol, he has also talked of having lapsed into almost homelessness at times when his career failed. Bonaduce subsequently tried to get rehabilitated and was able to revive his radio and TV career.
Mackenzie Phillips
On the One Day at a Time, Mackenzie Phillips rose to fame as a teenager. She got addicted to drugs very early and has mentioned that she got addicted to drugs when she was performing as an actor in her childhood years. Phillips has talked about her homelessness, life in the street and practising survival techniques to sustain her addiction. She eventually joined the recovery program and became an addiction counsellor.
Gary Coleman
Diff’rent Strokes star Gary Coleman was not homeless over time, but he was almost bordering on poverty and was grossly financially exploited and battled legal issues after becoming famous as a child. He was an alcohol addict and was very frank about the fact that success in childhood did not prepare him to face adult life and financial security.
Why This Happens So Often
Most of the child actors are adults without any financial literacy, emotional support, and unstable family setups. Premature exposure to adult life, the absence of restrictions and limits, and an abrupt loss of popularity may lead to addiction, mental disorders, and homelessness.
