CHILD STAR TRAGEDY: THE RISE, FALL AND TRAGIC DEATH OF DANA PLATO

Dana Michelle Plato was born on November 7, 1964.  Her biggest claim to fame was the television sitcom series Diff'rent Strokes.   Diff'rent Strokes is an African-American centered television series that lasted for 189 episodes across the span of eight seasons.  It was a television sitcom that was built around African-American midget actor/comedian Gary Coleman.  It was about a Caucasian father who adopts two African-American children.  You frequently saw the bedroom for Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson and Todd Bridges and Willis Jackson, but you never saw the bedroom for Dana Plato as Kimberly Drummond.  Dana Plato never really had an episode focus story and she was there only as support backup.  If you saw Harry Potter or Twilight, then you'll know what I'm talking about.  Just remove Daniel Radcliff, Rupert Grinte, Taylor Lautner, Rob Patterson and insert African-American actors Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges instead.  Remove the Caucasian suburbs and insert the African-American ghetto instead.  Toss in frequent mentions of Martin Luther King, keep saying that you have a dream and you got a tv show.  Dana Plato was a cast member for every episode for the first six before she was fired for alcohol and drug abuse issues for the seventh and eighth seasons.
Everything went to heck in a handbasket from that point onwards.  Dana Plato was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to jail.  She did soft porn films.  She tried to ressurrect her Diff'rent Strokes era popularity without success.  Dana Plato's effort to rebuild her shattered life was always hindered by her drug abuse problems.  She married rock musician named Lanny Lambert and produced her first and only child named Tyler Lambert.   The pair eventually divorced.  She got engaged to her business manager Robert Menchaca and they took a recreation vehicle to visit Robert Menchaca's mother's house.  While taking a nap inside the recreation vehicle, Dana Plato died from an accidential overdose of  Lortab and Valium on May 8, 1999.   Dana Plato died on Mothers Day.  Her first and only child, Tyler Lambert shot himself with a shotgun while overdosing on drugs and alcohol on May 6, 2010.

While your watching Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan overdosing on drugs and alcohol without serious punishment from the law, keep this in mind.  Dana Michelle Plato thought she was above the law when she ruined a promising career in the entertainment industry on drugs and alcohol.  Now she's dead and buried eight feet underground.  We'll never know if she had the capacity to rebuild her ruined career in the entertainment industry because she's no longer part of the mortal world.  For those who have trouble relating to the film BLACK SWAN, well the problem isn't the film but rather the way you're looking at it.  You see, the film BLACK SWAN was the film biography and an acurate depiction of Dana Plato's state of mind from the late 1970's to the day of her death in 1999.  I'm not trying to be rude, but it's the truth.  Dana Plato would've related to the BLACK SWAN film more than somebody who is much more functional.