Actress Melanie Watson Bernhardt has died.
Bernhardt, who was best known for playing the character Kathy Gordon on”Diff’rent Strokes,” died Friday in Colorado Springs, her brother told TMZ.
The actress, who battled the genetic disorder osteogenesis imperfecta — which causes bones to break easily, poor muscle tone, hearing loss, and dental problems — had been hospitalized after suffering bleeding issues, the outlet reported.
Her health reportedly deteriorated quickly after she was hospitalized.
Bernhardt was 57 years old.
Her brother told TMZ that his sister was fortunate to live as long as she did with her condition.
Bernhardt had a frequent guest-starring role on “Diff’rent Strokes,” in which she played a wheelchair-using friend of lead character Arnold (Gary Coleman). “Diff-rent Strokes” ran for 8 seasons, from 1978-1986.
After the show ended, Berhardt retired from acting.
She later created and served as the executive director of Train Rite, an organization that trains shelter dogs to serve the disabled, according to IMDB.
Bernhardt was previously married to Roger Bernhardt from 1994 to 1996.
“Diff’rent Strokes” followed two orphaned brothers from Harlem (Willis and Arnold Jackson) who were welcomed into the family of a wealthy New York businessman their mother once worked for.
Back in 2021, Todd Bridges — who played Willis — told Page Six that he experienced “extreme racism”growing up as a child star.
“Here you are doing something spectacular for people and people are enjoying it, but then you go outside and you’re treated like you’re ignorant, dumb and stupid,” he told us.
“Not like you have some intelligence or you’re a good kid, not at all,” he continued.
Bridges as well as his co-stars publicly struggled after the show wrapped.
Bridges battled a crack cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. In 1989, he was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of Kenneth “Tex” Clay, a Los Angeles-based drug dealer, but was eventually acquitted.
Coleman died at age 42 in 2010 of an epidural hematoma. Before his death, he won a lawsuit against his parents and business adviser over the misappropriation of his earnings.
Dana Plato, who played the boys’ adoptive sister, Kimberly, also struggled with drugs and alcohol for years. She died at age 34 in 1999 of a drug overdose that was later ruled a suicide.
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