‘Growing Pains’ Star Jeremy Miller Says TV Family Saved Him From Homelessness
For anyone who grew up in the ‘80s, the theme song to Growing Pains is probably still lodged somewhere in the brain. Growing Pains entered the American living room for the first time in 1985. The show featured the Seaver family and was a weekly dose of basically decent television. But behind the laugh track and the stock life lessons, one of its young stars, Jeremy Miller, was facing his own set of growing pains that were far from humorous.
Miller, who played the youngest Seaver son, Ben, recently opened up about coming to the end of himself. The glamor of Hollywood fades into a distant memory when real-life problems come knocking. For Miller, they knocked hard. He revealed that he was on the verge of homelessness after the 2008 economic crash destroyed his catering business. It’s a classic Hollywood story, but with a twist you do not always hear: his TV family stepped in.
A Lifeline From a TV Dad and Brother
When life grew difficult, Miller didn’t have many places to turn. He made a call that must have been incredibly difficult, reaching out to his Growing Pains father, the late Alan Thicke, and his TV brother, Kirk Cameron. What happened next is a testament to the idea that sometimes, the bonds forged on a set can be as real as any in the “real world.”
“Things got really bad, and Alan and Kirk were the only two who stepped up to help me,” Miller shared. Thicke, the quintessential TV dad, immediately jumped into action. Miller recalls, “All I had to say was, ‘Hey, Al, I’m really struggling.’” That was enough. Thicke spent the next two days calling his network of restaurateur friends, trying to land Miller a job where he could use his chef skills to support his family. It wasn’t just a casual offer of help; it was a full-scale effort from a man who clearly saw Miller as more than just a former co-star.
“He really did fill that father role,” Miller said of Thicke, who passed away in 2016. “He was my other dad.”
For Kirk Cameron, who is a practicing Christian, his desire to help springs from Proverbs 17:17 in the Bible: “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
The Battle Beyond the Screen
Miller’s financial struggles were compounded by a long and difficult battle with alcoholism, a devil that many former child stars have had to face. The pressure of growing up in the public eye can leave scars, and Miller was candid about his own. He described himself as a “mean drunk” who would black out daily, a painful admission that paints a stark picture of his life away from the cameras.
His wake-up call came in the form of a DUI, a moment he describes with shame, not for getting caught, but for the countless times he didn’t. “It’s probably the thing I’m most ashamed of in my drinking career, is how many times I put other people’s lives at risk by getting behind the wheel,” he confessed. The arrest, however, was the push he needed to get back into recovery. Apath he has traveled for over a decade.
Today, Miller’s story is less about the pitfalls of fame and more about the power of connecting with others. It is a raw, human look at what happens when the credits roll and life gets real. While Growing Pains might be a nostalgic memory for most of us, for Jeremy Miller, the lessons and the relationships from that show proved to be a lifeline. It turns out, showing you care can make all the difference, both on and off the screen. Growing Pains served as a template for future generosity.
