Corey Feldman

Feldman started his career at the age of three, appearing in a McDonald's commercial.[5] In his youth, he appeared in over 100 television commercials and on 50 television series, including The Bad News Bears, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, One Day at a Time and Cheers. He was in the films Time After Time and Disney's The Fox and the Hound. In 1981, he appeared in NBC's musical comedy children's special How to Eat Like a Child alongside other future child stars Billy Jacoby and Georg Olden.[6]

Feldman at the Academy Awards in March 1989

Feldman was featured in several consecutive high-grossing movies in the mid-1980s. The movies included Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985), and Stand By Me (1986), the latter alongside River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, and Jerry O'Connell.[7][8] In 1987, Feldman appeared with Corey Haim in The Lost Boys, in which he played Edgar Frog, a role he reprised in two sequels, Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008) and Lost Boys: The Thirst (2010). The Lost Boys marked the first onscreen pairing of Feldman and Haim, who became known as "The Two Coreys".[9][10] The pair went on to star in a string of films, including License to Drive (1988) and Dream a Little Dream (1989).[11][12] Feldman also voiced the character of Donatello in the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.[13]

After a public battle with drugs[14] (which began shortly after filming concluded for The 'Burbs (1989)),[15] Feldman fought to re-establish his life and career by working with youths, starring in several lesser-known films, and branching out with an album entitled Love Left. He returned to the big screen with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III where he again did the voice of Donatello, and starred in the Richard Donner/Robert Zemeckis/Joel Silver film Tales From The Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood, opposite Dennis Miller and Angie Everhart.[16]

He continued working with his friend Corey Haim on independent films, including a sequel to their last mainstream film together, Dream a Little Dream 2. In 1996, Feldman directed his first and only motion picture, a slapstick comedy called Busted where Haim played a leading role. This was the last film that they did as The Two Coreys. (Haim died in 2010). In the late 1990s, Feldman starred in the CBS series Dweebs and then released his second album, Still Searching for Soul, with his band Corey Feldman's Truth Movement. In 1996, Feldman appeared alongside his former Stand By Me co-star Jerry O'Connell in "Electric Twister Acid Test", an episode of the Fox Network series Sliders.[17] In 1999, he appeared as Officer Corey Feldman in the music video for the New Found Glory single "Hit or Miss".[18] In the same year, he made an appearance in the television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.[19]

In 2002, Feldman released a solo album, Former Child Actor, and promoted it with a second US tour.[20][21] In 2003 he appeared in the first celebrity-driven reality series The Surreal Life on The WB.[22] On the show, he publicly married Susie Sprague.[14] He also made a cameo appearance in the film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star starring David Spade.[23] He appeared in the music video for the Moby single "We Are All Made of Stars".[24] In 2004, Feldman made a cameo appearance in the independent sci-fi comedy Space Daze which was distributed by Troma Entertainment in 2005, and starred in the made-for-television slasher crossover film Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys which aired on December 18, 2004 through NBCUniversal's Syfy network. In 2005, Feldman made his stage debut in the positively reviewed off-Broadway play Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy (directed by Timothy Haskell), a parody of the seminal 1987 film Fatal Attraction. Feldman played the lead character, named Michael Douglas. Feldman appeared in the theatrical release My Date with Drew and was the voice of "Sprx-77" in the Toon Disney/ABC Family series Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!.[25]

In 2007, Feldman and Corey Haim began a scripted[26] reality television series, entitled The Two Coreys on the A&E Network.[27] Haim and Feldman began taping on December 4, 2006. The show premiered on July 29, 2007.[28] In the winter of 2007, Feldman's new film, Terror Inside, was released after the premiere of the A&E series. It was filmed in the Greater Orlando area by Minott Lenders, an independent film company based in Florida. In January 2008, Feldman, his wife, and Haim started production on the second series of The Two Coreys. Feldman was also executive producer for both seasons.[29]

In 2010, Feldman made an appearance in the music video for the single "1983" by Neon Trees.[30] He served as an official festival judge in May 2011 for the 4th annual Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 2011, Feldman also appeared in the music video for the Katy Perry single "Last Friday Night".[31] In summer 2011, Feldman started shooting for the horror film Six Degrees of Hell in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. The majority of the film was shot at the Hotel of Horror haunted attraction.[32]

In January 2012, Feldman joined the British television series Dancing on Ice with American pair skater Brooke Castile,[33] and was eliminated in the fourth week of the show. Feldman appeared in an episode of the television series Border Security: Canada's Front Line aired in September 2012; he was entering Canada at Vancouver International Airport to work on the USA Network series Psych. In April 2013, Feldman also appeared in the music video for the Mac Miller single "S.D.S.".[34] In October 2013, Feldman appeared in the music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.[35]

On October 28, 2013, Feldman released his first memoir, Coreyography. The book details his early life as a child actor all the way up to the death of his best friend Corey Haim. It also discusses his struggles with addiction and as a victim of Hollywood child sexual abuse.[36] In January 2014, Feldman started hosting a show on Battlecam.com called Corey's Angels Talk Live.[37]

In 2015, Feldman and his then-girlfriend, Courtney Anne Mitchell, appeared in episode 11 of the fourth season of the reality television series Celebrity Wife Swap. His girlfriend swapped with actor/comedian Tommy Davidson's fiancée, Amanda.[38]

In September 2016, Feldman made an appearance on the Today programme to support his album Angelic 2 the Core,[39] which sparked backlash for its unusual nature.[40] Also in 2016, Feldman stated that he had created a "360 management development and production entity" known as Corey's Angels "to help girls who were kind of lost and needed help to find their way."[41]

Feldman was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the third annual Young Entertainer Awards in April 2018.[42]

Feldman was close friends with Michael Jackson, as a child and teenager. In his book Coreyography and several interviews, he wrote and spoke about his childhood experiences with Jackson: "Michael Jackson's world, crazy as it sounds, had become my happy place. He was adamantly against drugs and alcohol, he was extremely straight-laced; I couldn't even swear around him. Being with Michael brought me back to my innocence. When I was with Michael, it was like being ten years old again."[58]

In 2001, their friendship ended because Jackson thought, based on erroneous information, that Feldman would negatively portray him in an upcoming book.[59] Feldman claimed, on September 11, 2001, that Jackson helped get Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Liza Minnelli out of town, but not him, who in turn retaliated with the song, "Megalo Man", featuring the lyrics: 'I believed in your words/I believed in your lies/But in September in New York/You left me to die/I love you, Megalo Man.'[60]

After Jackson cut him off, Feldman expressed frustration toward Jackson, claiming that he had done "real damage" to his childhood by befriending and then abandoning him. Feldman admitted that Jackson helped many children by becoming a friend and mentor, but that he did more harm than good by abandoning children when he grew bored with them.[61]

In February 2005, Feldman was subpoenaed to testify against Jackson in the singer's child molestation trial (although he ultimately did not[62]). Feldman said, "I started looking at each piece of information, and with that came this sickening realization that there have been many occurrences in my life and in my relationship to Michael that have created a question of doubt."[63] He added: "So I'm here to say I hope and I pray that these things never happened, and if they never happened, then there's some real sickness with a lot of people. But if they did happen, then there's a lot of sickness with one person. And that person needs to be punished." Although he was adamant that Jackson never touched him much, Feldman recounted that when he was 13 or 14 years old, Jackson once showed him a book that was "focused on venereal diseases and the genitalia". As an adult, Feldman saw this behaviour as inappropriate[64] but he later described the incident as Jackson "just being parental for a boy who had no guidance".[65]

When Jackson died in 2009, Feldman dedicated a Los Angeles hospital concert with his rock band, Truth Movement, to the singer.[66]

In 2013, Feldman spoke out in defense of Jackson in the wake of the sexual molestation accusations made by Wade Robson.[67] He explicitly denied that Michael Jackson had molested children.[68]

In 2017, Feldman talked about the police interviewing him during the 1993 investigation of Jackson and complained that the police ignored his actual molester, who did not take no for an answer, regarding whether Jackson molested him. Feldman told Dr. Oz "You want to know what I really think? They were trying to frame Michael Jackson and burying the Corey Feldman story."[69]

After new accusations against Jackson were raised in 2019 by documentary film Leaving Neverland, Feldman repeated that Jackson had never acted inappropriately towards him and called the documentary "one-sided".[70] Two days later, however, he changed his stance, saying he could "no longer defend" Jackson; Feldman added: "It comes to a point where as an advocate for victims ...it becomes impossible for me to remain virtuous and not at least consider what's being said."[71]

Soon after that interview, Feldman autographed and posed with a portrait of Jackson, which was auctioned off for Guitars for Vets in Calgary.[72]

On December 5, 2019, in a tweet criticizing a play about Jackson, Feldman called him "a dear friend" and criticized what he called "horrid accusations about him".[73] On Dec 6 he tweeted "I stand w ALL #VICTIMS. However that will never negate the times & memories we shared. Those were R experiences & while I was a victim of molestation, my time w MJ was pure & innocent, & that is the person I choose 2 remember."[74]

Feldman was married to actress Vanessa Marcil from 1989 until 1993.[75]

He met actress and model Susie Sprague in a nightclub in January 2002; they married on October 30 that year on the final episode of the first season of The Surreal Life. The ceremony was co-officiated by a rabbi and by M.C. Hammer, an ordained minister.[3] In October 2009, the couple split after seven years of marriage. Later that month, Sprague filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. She sought full custody of their son, Zen Scott Feldman, with Feldman having visitation rights. She also sought spousal support.[76] Feldman sought joint custody and wanted the court to block Sprague's spousal support demand.[77] After a five-year process, the couple's divorce became final in 2014.[78]

On November 22, 2016, Feldman married his long-time girlfriend, Courtney Anne Mitchell. The ceremony was officiated by producer Marklen Kennedy, at Elton John's Fizz champagne lounge at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.[79]

As an adult, Feldman has claimed that he is a survivor of child sexual abuse. According to him, he was molested by a man he first identified only as the alias "Ron Crimson", who worked as an assistant to Feldman's father.[80] Feldman has indicated that "Ron" facilitated his initiation into drug addiction.[80] Feldman later identified that man as actor and former personal assistant Cloyd Jon Grissom;[81] he also accused child agent Marty Weiss,[82] and former talent agent and Hollywood underage club owner Alphy Hoffman of having sexually abused him.[83]

• "We Are All Made of Stars" (2002)
• Project Redlight (2002)
• American Fame Pt. 1: Drowning River Phoenix (2004)
• "Last Friday Night" (2011)
• "City of Angels" (2013)

• Normality (1996, US version) – Kent Knutson
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze (2014) – Slash
• Minecraft: Story Mode (2015) – Magnus the Griefer