Dana Michelle Plato born November 7, 1964 was an American actress. She rose to fame for playing Kimberly Drummond on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes making her a teen idol of the time
She was adopted by Dean Plato and his wife Florine Plato. When she was three, her adoptive parents divorced and she lived with her mother
At a young age, Plato began attending auditions with her mother, and by the age of seven had appeared in over 100 television commercials. She was also a talented figure skater who trained for a potential spot on the Olympic team
During her years on Diff'rent Strokes, Dana struggled with drug and alcohol problems; she admitted to drinking alcohol, using weed and cocaine, and suffering an overdose of diazepam when she was 14
In December 1983, Plato moved in with her boyfriend, Lanny Lambert. The couple married and had a child, Tyler Edward Lambert. When it was revealed that she was pregnant, she was written out of Diff'rent Strokes. She was happy about her baby, in an interview with People magazine: "When I get the baby, I will never be alone again.'"
Plato separated from Lambert in January 1988, the same week her mother died of scleroderma. She signed over power of attorney to an accountant who ran away with most of her money, leaving her with less than $150,000. She said the accountant was never found or prosecuted despite an exhaustive search, and that he had also stolen more than $11 million from other clients. In her divorce, Plato lost custody of her son to Lambert and was given visitation rights.
On February 28, 1991, Plato entered a Las Vegas video store, showed a pellet gun, and demanded the money in the cash register. After she left with the money, the stunned worker called 911 and said, "I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes." Fifteen minutes after the robbery, Plato returned to the scene and was immediately arrested. She had stolen $164.
Toward the end of her career, Plato was forced to do roles that were erotic; she appeared nude in different films and in the softcore porn drama Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill. In the same year Dana appeared in a cover story of the lesbian magazine Girlfriends.
On May 7, 1999, Plato appeared on The Howard Stern Show. She spoke about her life, discussing her financial problems and past with the law. She admitted to being a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, but claimed she had been sober for more than ten years and was not using any drugs. Many callers to the show taunted her along with Howard stern, which angered and provoked her, and she defiantly offered to take a drug test on the air.
The next day Upon awakening, her family discovered that Plato had died in her sleep at the age of 34. It was assumed to be an accidental overdose, but was later ruled a suicide.
Dana Plato's son, Tyler Lambert, shot himself at 25 years old in 2010, struggling for years with his mother's death and facing his own battles with substance abuse.
Rest in peace to them both.
dailybridgerton
vaporwave
origamiaround
baratheonpilled
blakekathryn
titsay
stormborns
snowghoul
kianamaiart
kaledo-art