Diff’rent Strokes star Todd Bridges was a mess, and he’ll tell you that. The former child star struggled as a young adult, graduating from weed to crack cocaine and methamphetamines. He eventually turned to buying and selling drugs to support his habit. Bridges was in big trouble and aid arrived in an unexpected package.
It was comedian Eddie Murphy who decided to step in, Todd Bridges told Patrick Labyorteaux on his Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast. “Man, we got to get Todd some help. He tripping!”
But who could help? Murphy didn’t even drink, so what would he know about Bridges’ problem? According to the sitcom actor, Murphy decided to turn to the man in his circle who knew the most about drugs: his funky record producer, Rick James. That’s weird logic, like sending in Charlie Sheen to help someone battle sex addiction. “If any of you guys know anything about Rick James, Rick James was getting high at the time,” Bridges noted. But James, who Bridges knew from the clubs, was Murphy’s choice, and the “Mary Jane” singer went to see the young sitcom star.
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“Rick comes to my house. He opens his car door up, and all this smoke comes out,” Bridges remembered. He asked James what he wanted. “He's like, ‘Hey, brother, let me talk to you.” Bridges invited him in. “When Rick spoke, you listened, you know what I mean? Rick was loud. Rick spoke, you listened.”
The talk didn’t last long. Once inside, James asked Bridges to bring out his stuff.
“Stuff? Rick, what are you talking about?”
“Your drugs, man! Let me see it.”
Bridges obliged, bringing out his personal stash. “Man, I don't want you killing yourself. That's too much!” James said upon seeing the drugs. “Let me take half of that. Take it from you so you don't kill yourself.”
James scooped up half of Bridges’ drugs, but his mission wasn’t quite done. Bridges was entertaining a young woman when James showed up. “He started talking to the girl on my couch, and she went with him!” recalled Bridges. “And I'm like, This mother … You know, I'm ready to kill Rick at this point.”
It’s one hell of a story — but is it true? The answer is definitely maybe. Jimmy Kimmel asked Murphy about it during an appearance a few weeks ago. The Beverly Hills Cop star says he doesn’t remember sending James on the doomed mission, although “I don't doubt that that may have happened.”
What about the idea that James planned to get Bridges clean by taking half of his drugs? “That's hysterically funny,” admitted Murphy. “I wish I would have sent him.”
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