Tracey Gold

Tracey Gold (born Tracey Claire Fisher) is a former child star best known for her role as Carol Seaver on the hit 1980s sitcom, Growing Pains. Gold was born on May 16, 1969 in New York City and began acting at age four. Her first entertainment job was for a Pepsi print advertisement.

Gold had a fairly prolific acting career in her youth, appearing with small non--recurring roles in many different shows, including hit shows such as Eight Is Enough, Fantasy Island, and Trapper John, M.D. In 1979, she obtained a recurring role on the one season of the TV show, Shirley, with Shirley Jones. In 1983 she had another recurring role in the sitcom Goodnight, Beantown, with Bill Bixby. Unfortunately for Gold, both of those shows were cancelled after a single season apiece. In 1981, Gold thought that she finally got her big break when she was cast as the youngest daughter in the hit sitcom Gimme A Break!, until she was replaced by actress Lara Jill Miller shortly before that show went into production.

Gold's minor roles throughout her childhood and early teen years did, however, lead to her career-defining role as Carol Seaver on Growing Pains. Growing Pains was a very successful sitcom and Gold was popular among the show's teenage fan base for her cute and wholesome girl next door looks. [This, of course, is a sharp contrast from her young co-star, fellow washed-up celebrity Jeremy Miller, who was, according to the IMDB message boards, very popular with the show's gay fan base.] Gold was integral in many of the show's storylines, several of which dealt her attraction to boys and her excellent performance in high school.

Despite being a successful child actress and co-starring on a hit TV show, Gold suffered through a highly publicized battle with anorexia nervosa. Gold claimed that she became practically obsessed with her weight and began restricting what she ate. At the age of 11, she was diagnosed as being in the early stages of anorexia nervosa after simultaneously losing weight while going through a growth spurt. Gold went into counseling over this issue and eventually returned to a normal weight.
In 1988, Gold put on some weight during Growing Pains' hiatus. Despite knowing about Gold's previous weight issues, the show's writers wrote storylines where Gold was to be subject to many fat jokes during successive episodes. Gold once again began obsessing about her weight, dropping from 133 lbs to 110 lbs while on a 500 calorie per day diet. Over the next couple years, Gold continued to drop weight, eventually getting down to a weight around 80 lbs. During the final season on Growing Pains, the show's producers suspended Gold from the show because of her gaunt appearance. She appeared in the Christmas 1991 episode but didn't appear in any more episodes until late spring, 1992.

After Growing Pains went off the air in 1992, Gold finally started to get her life in order and eventually got well enough to return to a healthy weight. In 1994 she acted in the TV movie, For the Love of Nancy, a movie about a young woman battling anorexia.

Gold still occasionally acts, although not nearing as frequently as she used to do back in her youth. On the personal side, Gold got married in 1994 and has four children. On September 3, 2004, Gold put her own life and the lives of everyone in her family in danger when she was driving her family in an SUV while intoxicated. Gold lost control of the SUV, rolling it down a California freeway embankment. The accident nearly killed her 7-year-old son, Sage, who suffered a broken clavicle and a head laceration. Gold was arrested and charged with a DUI.

Although Gold was a successful child actor and courageously won her battle with anorexia nervosa, the fact the she put the lives of everyone in her family in jeopardy by driving drunk makes Tracey Gold one washed up celebrity!