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Todd bridges knows what it's like to have a public fall from grace. he was a beloved star from the sitcom "diff'rent strokes." ended up a real-life drug dealer and pimp and tells his story of his incredible fall and rise in "killing willis." the life i always wanted. todd, so confession time. >> yes. >> i was born about two months before you and i sort of grew up on "diff'rent strokes," in the '70s and '80s. it was one of my favorite shows. >> thank you. >> and reading your book was a kind of -- it was almost like a sort of terrible moment of awakening for me. >> yeah. >> this show, which i lo...

He writes about what happened and his return to sobriety in a new book "killing willis." from "different strokes" to the mean streets to the life i always wanted. there you see its cover. by the way, what do we mean by the term in the title "killing willis"? >> because i was trying to kill myself. and because willis is a part of me. i was trying to destroy that whole part of me. >> larry: you were on a suicidal path? >> yeah. >> larry: you're lucky to be alive. >> i'm not lucky, i'm blessed to be alive. >> larry: what happened to you after the show? >> after the show, what happened -- the show...

The tv for him. he took out a lot of aggression on me. he would slap me in the back of the head and say cruel things to me. growing up as a 12-year-old kid, that stuff really hurts. >> larry: how long were you on the show? >> eight years. i was on shows before then. i was on "fish." i was also on "barney miller." i was on -- i did a show with denny thomas. i was in "roots." i was the first black "little house on the prairie." i did 15 episodes of "the waltons." >> larry: child stars have difficulties later on. >> i would say all kids have difficulties when going through such enormous pain and ...

Addiction, either you're ready or not. and two things will happen with drug addiction, either you'll go insane or you'll have death. that's something a practicing druggy has to look forward to. >> larry: what's next? >> i'm going to do my life story as a feature film, that's one of the things i want to do. i'm on a show called "dumbest criminals" on smoking gun tv. we talk about criminals who are doing things wrong. i'm so happy there weren't cameras around back when i was doing those kind of things, or i would be talking about myself. but i want to spread the message of recovery, spread the m...

About addiction. it was a way to cover up the pain i was going through. and never felt that i would become addicted. but i was wrong. and my brother used to tell me drugs will lead to harder drugs. i didn't believe him. and it did. >> larry: what about all the girls in your life? janet jackson one of them. >> yeah. she is a great person. we -- she was g i loved janet. and she is still the same. i talked to her a few months ago. she is still great. and i love those kind of people in my life. >> larry: how did you end up in jail? >> i made stupid mistakes. things i shouldn't have done, like, for...