Dana Plato’s cause of death, confirmed

Warning: This article talks about a possible suicide. Please read carefully and take care of yourself.

Dana Plato was born on November 7, 1964, in Maywood, California. She was an actress best known for playing Kimberly Drummond, a caring character, on the popular TV show Diff’rent Strokes, which ran from 1978 to 1986. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she became a teen idol.

Aside from Diff’rent Strokes, Dana appeared in many other TV shows and movies. According to IMDb, some of her TV appearances included The Six Million Dollar Man (1975), Family (1976), What Really Happened to the Class of ’65? (1978), Hello, Larry (three episodes), The Facts of Life (1979), CHiPs (1979 and 1980), High School U.S.A. (1983), The Love Boat (1974), and Growing Pains (1985).

Dana Plato appeared in several movies, including Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Return to Boggy Creek (1977), California Suite (1978), and Prime Suspect (1989), along with some smaller, less known films.

Sadly, Dana passed away on May 8, 1999, in Moore, Oklahoma, at just 34 years old. People wonder what led to such a heartbreaking and early end to her life.

How did Dana Plato die?

According to her IMDb bio and other sources, Dana Plato’s death at first seemed to be an accidental overdose of the painkiller “Loritab.” But 13 days later, on May 21, 1999, a coroner ruled her death a suicide because of the large amount of drugs in her system and her past attempts to take her own life. Some of her friends and people who knew her disagreed with this ruling.

On the day Dana Plato died, she had just done an interview with Howard Stern, hoping it would help restart her career. She and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, who was also her manager, were on their way back to California in their motor home. They stopped at Menchaca’s parents’ house in Moore, Oklahoma, for a Mother’s Day weekend visit. Dana wasn’t feeling well, so she took some Lortab (a painkiller) and a muscle relaxer, then went to take a nap with her fiancé. When he woke up, he found her unresponsive next to him.

Dana Plato had been dealing with substance abuse for many years before her death. Her difficulties were often linked to the fact that she struggled to find more acting roles after Diff’rent Strokes ended.

We hope she has found peace now.

If you or someone you know is going through a tough time or is in crisis, help is available. You can call or text 988, or chat online at 988lifeline.org. For international crisis resources, check the link provided.

The world’s strongest boy. He is currently 24 years old

About 15 years ago, Richard Sandrak, who moved from Ukraine to the United States, was called the strongest boy in the world.

Richard started to exercise seriously when he was just a child. And at the age of 8 he could bench-press with more than 30 pounds! At 11 years of age he lifted 53 pounds!

Now he’s 24 years old and it’s hard to call him a jock.

Once he was given the nickname «Little Hercules», he was constantly invited to competitions, TV-shows, commercials, magazines and even movies. That’s why Richard’s family moved to California, so the son could fully realize himself.

Training, nutrition, regime — these points were monitored by the boy’s father — a former world champion in martial arts. Very often the man was criticized for abusing his son and putting a lot of pressure on him.

And when Richard was 11 years old, he called the police when his father assaulted his mother. The man was put in jail for domestic violence.

The boy stopped communicating with his father and no longer recognized him. For a while he was still practicing, but gradually it became less and less.

At the moment Richard says: «I am very proud of my achievements as a child, I am not ashamed of them and I do not try to hide this page of my life from anyone. And he adds: «I just don’t want to live like that anymore.» «They tried to make me look like some kind of abomination of nature.»

Now Richard continues to exercise, but not as fanatically. He runs every morning and also likes skateboarding. By profession, he is a stuntman at the show «Waterworld» in Los Angeles, where he is set on fire at least five times a day, and then he has to dive into the water from a great height.