EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's Ex Wife: I Wanted To Be There When He Was Cremated
June 18 2010, Published 3:50 p.m. ET
Gary Coleman’s ex-wife now says she was cheated of saying a final goodbye to the Diff’rent Strokes star, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
The body of the 42-year-old star was cremated Thursday afternoon in Sandy, Utah. “She wanted to be there,” says Shielia Erickson, a rep for Coleman’s ex-wife Shannon Price.
Shielia says they found out about the cremation 4 hours after it happened. At the very least, Shielia says they should have been notified of the time, “even if we were saying a prayer at the time…It’s sad she didn’t know.”
This appears to be a change of heart from what Erickson told RadarOnline.com on Wednesday. She told us that Shannon did NOT want to visit Gary’s body one last time, she felt she had said goodbye to the 4 foot 8 inch tall actor in his hospital bed.
EXCLUSIVE: Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Will Not Visit Body -- One Last Time
It’s been three weeks since Gary passed away, and Erickson says “Shannon was hugging a picture of Gary last night.”
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Shannon has been at the center of controversy. When Gary fell and hit his head, Shannon called 911 but left Gary alone, bleeding in another room, saying she couldn’t handle the blood. In the hospital she took photos of him on his deathbed. Those photos were later sold and although she denies profiting from them, there is strong evidence that she did.
Shannnon also made the decision to take Gary off life support even though he had signed a directive that he didn’t want the plug pulled.
Now she’s fighting for his estate, which could be lucrative due to residuals.