Corey Haim

Corey Haim was one of Hollywood's top teen stars in the late 80s. He must have felt like he was on top of the world at the time. However, immaturity and the lure of illicit drugs and fast food became his obsession as he threw away his career and flamed out in a spectacular collapse, becoming one of the most washed-up celebrities of his generation.

EARLY SUCCESSES

Born on December 23, 1971, Haim started out in commercials during his pre-teen years. He had minor roles in several movies in 1984 and 1985 until he achieve his major break, playing the title role in the 1986 major motion picture Lucas. Haim achieved critical acclaim for his role, receiving a nomination for an Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Feature Film - Comedy or Drama at the Young Artist Awards for his role. Film critic Roger Ebert raved about Haim's performance, commenting that he "creates one of the most three-dimensional, complicated, interesting characters of any age in any recent movie. If he can continue to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor. He is that good." Here are some pictures of Haim from the movie Lucas:


Haim parlayed this success into prominent roles in the subsequent minor box office successes, The Lost Boys and License to Drive. Haim acted with fellow teen star (and current washed-up celebrity) Corey Feldman in these films and the two became best buddies in real life and were featured on a wide variety of pre-teen magazines such as BOP and Tiger Beat. The two friends were practically joined at the hip are were known as "The Two Coreys."

Haim was also quite popular with the ladies at the height of his career and dated Nicole Eggert for several years. Haim proposed to Eggert but she declined to marry him.

DOWNFALL AND SPECTACULAR COLLAPSE

At the height of Haim's career he earned $400,000 per movie. That's impressive money for a child actor. However, Haim got mixed up in the wrong crowd in Hollywood and became a drug addict, wasting his Hollywood earnings on his illicit vice. Haim also put on close to 100 pounds and became practically unrecognizable. Look at these pictures of a bloated Haim - he actually somewhat resembles Chris Farley:

Haim's drug addiction was so bad that some of his teeth actually fell out of his mouth and he developed bad blood clots in his legs. In 2001 at the absolute nadir of his entertainment career Haim actually became so desperate for money that he tried to sell his teeth and hair on eBay. eBay pulled the listed because the selling of body parts violates their Terms of Service.

Haim eventually moved back home to Canada to live with his mom when he had nowhere else to go. Haim is currently trying to recapture the glory days of his youth. He has been spotted at various autograph sessions and occasionally with old pal Corey Feldman. Although he's still pretty fat and struggling to lose weight, he sometimes wears sleeveless shirts to show off his flabby arms that completely lack any semblance of muscle definition. All of this makes Corey Haim one washed-up up celebrity!

*** - Update - November 15, 2007 ***
Corey Haim must be really hard up for money right now. TMZ.com has reported that according to his official website, he is currently selling some of his prized movie memorabilia on eBay. An image of the items from eBay is shown below. Not only is Haim broke, but he must also be delusional if he thinks that someone is going to pay $20,000 for the jacket he worn in First Born!


***Update - March 10, 2010***
Corey Haim has died of an apparent drug overdose. He was 38 years old. Haim had been suffering from flu-like symptoms for several days before finally stumbling in front of his mother. Haim's mother helped him back to bed, but Haim apparently because unresponsive moments later. Haim's mother realized something was wrong and called 911. Paramedics arrived and Haim was sent to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:15 AM on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.