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Todd Bridges has a lucky flight to thank for reconnecting him with Diff'rent Strokes co-star Gary Coleman.
The 61-year-old actor, who played Willis Jackson on the iconic sitcom, opened up about mending his relationship with his on-screen little brother after years of not talking during an appearance at Fanboy Expo Knoxville over the weekend.
"The first three years [of Diff’rent Strokes] we were all very close, and then Gary’s parents came and changed a lot of stuff," Bridges remembered, as per PEOPLE. While he and Coleman "weren't very close" after that, Bridges said he was able to reconnect with Coleman before his death at age 42 in May 2010 due to a brain hemorrhage.
“I’ll tell you a funny story. I hadn’t seen Gary in years or talked to him in years. I’m about to get on a plane, and somebody says, ‘Hey, man, your little brother’s here,’” Bridges recalled. “I’m like, ‘I ain’t got no older brother, what are you talking about?’ He was like, ‘Your little brother’s here.’ I go, ‘Dude, I have no idea…’ He goes, ‘Gary Coleman.’"
“So I go, and I walk in on the plane, and I’m getting ready to sit down, and they sat us next to each other,” the actor continued. “We were going to different places in New York, but I’m sitting, and he goes, ‘They set us up.’ I go, ‘Yes, they did.’ So we ended up sitting there and talking, and that’s how we connected again.”
Bridges has been open about the ups and downs of his relationship with Coleman over the years, revealing last year that Coleman's father attempted to have him fired from Diff’rent Strokes after the two child stars got into a slapping fight.
"Gary’s father tried to have me fired,” Bridges said in an August 2025 appearance on The Patrick LabyorSheaux with Patrick Labyorteaux. “They were like, ‘We can’t fire him, [Coleman's father] Willie. We can’t fire Willis. The show is about Willis and Arnold. We’d be done.’"
"When the show ended, I didn’t talk to Gary," Bridges continued of the divide Coleman's father created between the two boys. "I was having my own issues, And then, as he started having issues, [we got] back together, and we became close again. Very, very close."
He even recalled reuniting with Coleman for an autograph signing as the Dirty Work actor was struggling with his health and helping him navigate the event in his wheelchair.
“Why are you pushing me after the things I’ve said about you?” Coleman asked, Bridges recalled, to which he replied, "You’re still my brother, man. It doesn’t matter."
