EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Gary Coleman's Vindictive Lawyer Turned Him Against Me, Says Ex-Wife
June 29 2010, Published 11:38 a.m. ET
Gary Coleman's ex-wife Shannon Price has broken her silence about a secret restraining order the Diff'rent Stokes star had drawn up against her just months before he died – and she blames it all on his lawyer, in an exclusive new video interview with RadarOnline.com.
We first broke the news that Coleman prepared a restraining order against his ex in February, just months before she had him disconnected from life support. The document was under seal and Gary claimed Price had moved back into his home, against his wishes, and that she would destroy his property.
But Price blames Gary’s actions on Randy Kester, the star’s former attorney.
“I believe that Randy manipulated him to go against me,” Price told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive video interview.
“I definitely know that Randy does not like me and I don’t know why he has been so vindictive, trying to crush my appearance and my credibility. I’ve never done anything to him.
“I do believe that Gary was very upset and very shocked about things in the restraining order and the restraining order itself. I’m sure Gary just wasn’t thinking rationally at the time.”
Price has stirred controversy by posing with Gary on his deathbed and then profiting from the sale of photos of the Diff’rent Strokes star’s last minutesl. She also sold interviews within hour of his death on May 28.
Kester responds to Price’s allegations with a slew of facts that refute Price’s “he doesn’t like me” argument.
Kester told RadarOnline.com: “The first thing is, I bear Shannon no ill will at all. When I hear what I think are exaggerations or distortions of what was really happening, it bothers me. And that was my impression of what was going on in terms of some of the representations being made (by Shannon) about the relationship (between Shannon and Gary).”
Directly addressing Price’s charge that he manipulated Gary on the restraining order, Kester told RadarOnline.com that Gary was in hospice care at the time and reached out to him.
“She was calling there and driving him crazy,” Kester said. “he couldn’t get her to stop calling, he couldn’t get her to stop bothering the people there. And there’s a girl, a home healthcare nurse who will confirm it, that he’s the one who contacted me, he’s the one who got the note from some guy who said that Shannon was stealing the stuff out of his house and he’s the one who asked me to prepare (the restraining order).
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“Of importance, if you look at his signature and the notary seal on that affidavit that wasn’t done at my office. He reviewed that and signed it. I wasn’t even there when he went through it. He went over it without me and signed it... so for her to say I made him do it, I wasn’t even physically there.”
Price now says that Gary, who was 42 when he died, was irrational and angry when he filled out the restraining order against her in February.
And she admits their heated emotions often made them say things they didn’t mean.
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“It was very hurtful but at the same time like I said, Gary and I don’t think rationally sometimes,” she told RadarOnline.com. “We just do things based upon our anger.
“On numerous occasions we didn’t think rationally and we just let our tempers get the better of us.”
Gary sought the protective order in a Utah court -- preparing the papers under the name John Doe -- because he believed she was trespassing in his home while he was hospitalized for heart surgery.
In the papers, which were never served to Price, Coleman says he fears his ex will steal his belongings.
"She has shown a tendency to damage, destroy and steal my property and I believe she will continue to do so in my absence and while she is trespassing in my home,” he wrote.
However Price is adamant this is not the case.
“I’d rather have someone shoot me in the head before they got any of our belongings because I cherished and respected Gary’s things as much as I respected my own property,” Price said.