NEED TO KNOW
- Jeremy Miller, who starred on Growing Pains as a child, remembered how TV dad Alan Thicke “stepped up” when he was on the “brink of homelessness”
- Miller’s catering company suffered during the 2008 financial crisis, and the former actor said Thicke helped him through it
- Thicke died in 2016 at age 69
Jeremy Miller will always have a special bond with Alan Thicke.
In an interview with Youngstown Studio released on Thursday, Aug. 21, Miller, who starred as Ben Seaver on Growing Pains, remembered how Thicke, who played his TV dad, Dr. Jason Seaver, helped him when he was on “the brink of homelessness.”
“He was just one of the most amazing men,” Miller, 48, said of Thicke, who died in 2016 at age 69.
In 2008, when the economy crashed, “my catering company went under, and I was really struggling,” the actor recalled. “I mean, really struggling on the brink of homelessness,” he clarified, before revealing that Thicke and their Growing Pains costar, Kirk Cameron, immediately provided assistance.
“Things got really bad, and Alan and Kirk were the only two who stepped up to help me,” he said. “Alan set up interviews with all of his restaurateur friends in Santa Barbara and a few other places and got me connected to different places where I could utilize my chef skills and earn some money to help take care of my family.
“All it took was a phone call to say, ‘Hey, Al, I’m really struggling. Do you know anybody who might —’ and that’s all I had to say,” Miller remembered. “He was on the phone for the next two days, making connections and doing everything he could to try and help me. That was just the kind of guy he was.”
Growing Pains ran for seven seasons, from 1985 to 1992. After the series end, Miller’s acting career primarily involved voice roles. He eventually began working as a private chef.
Reflecting on Thicke, Miller said that the actor was “always so full of life.”
“I mean, that was why losing him was such a shock,” he said. “I mean, all of us, we really thought he was gonna be the next Dick Clark, you know? 102 and still going. Because he was so full of life and so full of energy.”
He said that Thicke had “no cartilage in his knees” and “a fused vertebrae in his back,” but he was “still out there playing hockey with his son.”
“He was just such a kind, generous, and amazing man. And him and I would talk probably once a month, once every two months,” Miller remembered. “He would call just to check up on me, make sure everything’s going good. But he really did fill that father role. He was my other dad.”
Growing Pains also starred Joanna Kerns as mom Maggie Seaver, Tracey Gold as Carol Seaver and Cameron as Mike Seaver. The family added a fourth child, Chrissy, in later seasons, who was ultimately played by Ashley Johnson. Leonardo DiCaprio also appeared on the show as a homeless teen who is taken in by the family.
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