“GARY,” which premieres August 29 on Peacock, is set to explore Coleman’s rise to fame as the child star of “Diff’rent Strokes” and the dark side of his personal life that fans never got to see.
Gary Coleman’s turbulent life and death are told in Peacock’s GARY.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive first look at the streamer’s documentary, the new 90-minute film explores the “fascinating life and mysterious death of beloved child actor Gary Coleman,” according to the documentary’s official logline.
Through “exclusive interviews” with Coleman’s former co-star Todd Bridges, former managers, his estranged parents and Coleman’s ex-wife, the documentary will “follow his rise to international fame as a child star of Different strokes and the dark side of his private life away from the camera.”
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peacock
Peacock’s new documentary “GARY”
Related: “Diff’rent Strokes” star Gary Coleman dies at 42
“The kid was a real star,” Bridges says in the trailer as old photos of Coleman flash on the screen.
While others describe Different strokes as “groundbreaking” and tells how “audiences loved Gary”, but old footage of the late actor reveals that his life behind the scenes was much darker.
“If someone had told me early enough that my life was going to be this way that I could get out, I would have gotten out,” Coleman says in found footage, as news reports reveal that his parents and business advisers “diverted some of his income.”
As the camera pans to the guilty faces of those who were once closest to him, Coleman says in an old interview, “I took that very much to heart.”
“He said, ‘I just wanted to say goodbye. I can’t take this anymore,’ and we cried,” his manager Dion Mial recalls a conversation he once had with the late actor. “His life was full of disappointments. From 1985 until his death, he lived without a single kidney.”
Related: Todd Bridges remembers ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ co-star Dana Plato on her 55th birthday
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Peacock/RawTV Ltd
Shannon Price in “GARY”
Finally, the trailer examines the “suspicious” circumstances of Coleman’s death and his “turbulent” relationship with his ex-wife Shannon Price.
When the teaser shows Price’s 911 call and speculation about his death is raised, she says threateningly into the camera: “People think I did this. Because I’m the ex-wife, I’m the bad person, right?”
“His life is a warning,” says Mial, while others describe Coleman as “a big man in the body of a little kid” and “the greatest child actor of all time.”
Related: Stars pay tribute to Gary Coleman
In May 2010, Coleman died from complications of a brain hemorrhage. He was 42 years old. The former child star had several medical issues, including multiple surgeries, a seizure, and transplants. He also battled lifelong kidney disease, which ultimately stunted his growth and caused him to stand at 4 feet 6 inches tall.
Coleman rose to fame playing the role of Arnold Jackson, the brave boy from Harlem who was adopted into a wealthy white family. Different strokes from 1978 to 1986 – with his often imitated hit “What’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”
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GARY Premieres Thursday, August 29, on Peacock.
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