“Eight Is Enough” star Adam Rich died at 54

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Adam Rich, a former child star, died on January 7, 2023. The “Eight Is Enough” star died at the age of 54, and a family member said that he died at his Los Angeles home.

Officers stated that they discovered Rich unresponsive at his home. Officials feel there was no foul play, despite the fact that a family member did not identify the reason for the death.

Rich was born in Brooklyn, New York, in October 1968. He was best known for his role as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest child of the Bradford family, in the popular American TV sitcom “Eight Is Enough,” which ran from 1977 to 1981.

The five-season sitcom followed “a family with eight highly autonomous children.” Rich appeared in the ABC sitcom when he was eight years old, in the late 1970s.

After the show finished, the Hollywood celebrity starred in the one-season drama series “Code Red,” which aired from 1981 to 1982. Rich also provided voice work for the animated series “Dungeons & Dragons” and starred in the 1997 film “The City.”

His acting career began at Chatsworth High School, where he learned the ropes from his theater instructor. However, after achieving success in Hollywood, Rich left the profession in the 1980s to pursue a private life.

Rich maintained a social media presence throughout the years in which he addressed his life’s problems, including struggling with depression while spending much of his adult life away from the spotlight. He was open about how “poisonous” the platform was.

“[…] I was getting into feuds with some of the MAGA celebs at one time, and I was, like, experiencing all this hatred.”

Rich added that he chose to come out about his mental health after discovering that many other individuals were experiencing the same issue. Throughout the process, he learned that his major “purpose” was to tell about it.

Rich said that in his early thirties, he was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). When he stopped working behind the scenes, he found out about the diagnosis.

YouTube video

He was also in a relationship with the intention of marrying and having children. Regrettably, things “ended suddenly.” Rich stated that when the romance ended, it “broke” him, and he had not been himself since.

He said that only 7% of people with MDD are “treatment resistant.” Unfortunately, he is one of those people.

Rich was at first “in denial” about his illness and refused to take medicine because it would make him feel bad.

“It was terrible.”

After enduring excruciating agony and suffering, he snapped out of it and began paying more heed to the physicians’ directions, eventually agreeing to take the prescription.

Rich tweeted in September 2022 that people are not supposed to suffer from such a horrible disease, adding that such conditions require strong-willed individuals.

In December 2022, the “Benji at Work” star stated that persons suffering from mental illness often behave as if everything is well when it is not. He exhorted them to abandon the “stigma” and live their truth.

While Rich spent the majority of his adult life away from Hollywood, dealing with personal issues, one wonders where the rest of his old “Eight Is Enough” castmates are today.

Meanwhile, Susan Richardson, who played Susan Bradford, is now a retired actress who has battled drug addiction in the past. Notably, she did not attend the show’s 2010 cast reunion, and she was believed to be working at a nursing facility in Pennsylvania in April 2016.

Lani O’Grady, who played Mary Bradford, withdrew from acting after 1982 but reappeared in “Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion” (1987) and “Eight Is Enough: A Wedding” (1988). (1989).

Unfortunately, O’Grady died in 2001, allegedly as a result of an accidental drug overdose. She has struggled with drug addiction for many years.

 

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