Todd Bridges on Everybody Hates Chris? Whatchutalkinbout?!
Todd Bridges, Everybody Hates Chris
It takes
Diff'rent Strokes to move the world, and nobody knows that better than
Todd Bridges. Tonight, he begins a recurring gig as a crazed ex-military man named Monk on
Everybody Hates Chris (8 pm/ET, on the CW), so we had to see what the former Willis Drummond is talkin' 'bout these days.
TV Guide: From Skating with Celebrities [see the 2006 Q&A] to working with Chris Rock? Not bad!
Todd Bridges: I had a feeling if I stayed sober and did the next right thing, everything would [work out]. I've been in showbiz since 1971 and... there is no reason I shouldn't be acting. Five years ago, everything sort of turned around.
TV Guide: Is that when you got clean?
Bridges: No, I got clean 13 years ago. But you always got to be happy where you are.
TV Guide: And you just did 1 vs 100, too?
Bridges: Oh, god, you don't want to know about that. I am terrible at [game shows]. I can't answer! I go into some sort of shock. Honestly, if they ask me, "Is your name Todd, Gary or Willis?" I'm like, "Uh, ummm, Gary! No, that's not it!" [Laughs]
TV Guide: Speaking of Willis, how different is it for kid actors like Chris' Tyler James Williams than it was for you and Gary Coleman?
Bridges: They have so many things: cell phones, they text-message.... We never had that stuff. And they have a lot more beautiful girls growing up with them in the business. We didn't really have any gorgeous girls when we were that age.
TV Guide: Hello? The Facts of Life!
Bridges: They were all we had! Today they've got everybody, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan.... And now they can date within the [industry]. Who were we going to date? Once you went through The Facts of Life cast, you were done. [Laughs]
Send your comments on this Q&A to letters@tvguide.com.
