What Happened to Gary Coleman’s Wife, Shannon Price

Presently, Shannon Price, the widow of actor, Gary Coleman is an employee of WeWork. However, it was her marriage to the American actor that brought her to the limelight. Gary was known for the role he played in the situational comedy, Different Strokes, fans were happy when he got married to Price, but little did they know that the couple was just struggling to make it work.

Shannon Price is a child of the 80s

She was called Shannon Michelle Price at her birth which occurred on August, 28th 1985. Price was born in the United States of America, making her a citizen of the US. The identities of her parents have never been mentioned in the public space but she spent her formative years with a sister, Shawn Price.

What is she currently doing?

When Shannon Price’s plans of becoming an actress or model didn’t come to fruition, Gary Coleman’s widow changed direction and became an employee in the real estate industry. After garnering loads of experience, Price scored a plum job at WeWork in 2019 as the company’s tri-state director of broker relations.

Important to note that Price did get an opportunity to try her hands at acting. She was part of productions like Divorce Court and The Gary I Knew. Gary Coleman’s widow also showed up on Entertainment Tonight.

With that said, we must also acknowledge a second version of the story which claims that Shannon became completely impoverished after she lost the battle for Coleman’s estate. She was left with no other choice than move to her father’s home – a rented one-bedroom apartment.

An Inside Edition correspondent alleged that Price’s living condition was absolutely disgusting, only comparable to one of the episodes from Hoarders. The couches serve as beds for Shannon, her dad, and her three dogs. Shannon even had to beg their next-door neighbor to shower in their bathroom since her own is covered in black grime.

Shannon and Gary Coleman’s love story

In 2006, Shannon Price was serving as an extra on the set of the movie, Church Ball in Utah when she crossed paths with Gary Coleman. Shannon who was just 22 asked for Gary’s hand in marriage.

On his own part, Gary decided to surprise his love interest by whisking her off to the Valley of Fire State Park hilltop where they exchanged marriage vows. Present at the nuptials were the couple, the officiating minister, videographers, a photographer, and a helicopter pilot.

The media and the general public viewed their relationship with distrust

At their nuptials, Shannon Price was a 22-year-old lady of 5 feet 7 inches while Gary was already 40, standing at 4 feet 8 inches. It goes without saying that the differences in the couple’s personalities became a subject of public debate. In his bid to silence the gossip, Gary came up with claims that their marriage was founded on love.

Gary and Shannon initially downplayed their poles-apart height and generational age gap, dismissing them as unimportant. Coleman who claimed he took intelligence seriously and had no issues with the age gap said he was cool with the fact that Shannon seems to be more intelligent than him.

Talking about Gary, Shannon Price said she saw him as being 10 feet tall because of his personality and sweet nature. On their reasons for keeping the wedding a secret, Price confessed that she wanted to be seen as her own person and not to be perceived as the wife of Gary Coleman. The couple seemed to be living in bliss until the real facts started infiltrating into the public space.

Their relationship turned out to be a short-lived one

It later became public knowledge that Shannon Price’s relationship with Gary Coleman was actually volatile. According to the Different Strokes star, they can stay without communicating for a week and after being Shannon’s husband for months, Gary claimed he was still a virgin. This was an indication that the couple’s marriage wasn’t intimate at all.

Gary who was a sufferer of a congenital kidney disorder fell down a few months after their, nuptials leading to a severe brain hemorrhage. According to the ensuing rumors, the actor was actually pushed as his fall was not accidental; Price was seen as the culprit.

Reports claimed Shannon treated Gary badly during their time together; she called him stupid, mocked his height, and never showed him respect. In 2008, the couple showed up in Divorce Court in a bid to salvage their union to no avail. After they became officially divorced in August 2008, Gary sought a restraining order against Price, shutting his ex out of his house.

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Even with that, Shannon Price still came up with claims that what they had was a common-law marriage. When the actor was on life support in intensive care, Shannon gave orders that the life-saving apparatus be removed, ending Gary’s life in 2010. Her excuse was that Coleman was already a vegetable.

Price later came up with another claim that Gary’s account was in red, urging fans to lend their support towards paying for his burial.

Battle for the estate of the comedian

From what we could sieve from available reports, the Different Strokes star’s life after the sitcom was rather difficult – for one, Gary was separated from his parents. He was on the brink of bankruptcy when he passed on at 42 and there was his mockery of marriage which saw him remain a virgin after months of living with Shannon Price until their divorce. This had fans asking, what manner of marriage the duo had.

With that said, a huge battle for Coleman’s estate ensued after his death. The resulting lawsuit had Shannon claim they were still married till Gary’s death against the testimony of Anna Gray – Coleman’s close friend and former head of the late actor’s corporation.

In 2005, Gary initially named Anna as beneficiary and executor of his estate. However, after exchanging marriage vows with Shannon Price two years later in 2007, Coleman created a codicil in favor of his wife.

The content of the will amendment emphasized that Gary wasn’t coerced to append his signature to the codicil but signed out of his weakness and personal selfish interest. Closing the statement, the late actor said he loved Shannon with all his heart.

The authorities considered the language to be odd but there were a lot of oddities surrounding Gary’s estate. Going by Utah law, that particular codicil became null and void in 2008 following the couple’s official divorce, but Price said no. She went ahead to file a lawsuit implementing the codicil; she claimed that despite their divorce, they were still married as common-law husband and wife. According to Price, they didn’t remarry officially in a bid to avoid publicity.

Now, when you consider the validity of common-law marriage in Utah, it made the case even more difficult. The law permits a man and woman to be considered married if;

• They live under the same roof as man and wife
• Hold themselves out as being married to the public and
• Meet other stipulated requirements

This was the dilemma the Utah judge had to contend with in finally ruling the case. The judge then conducted a trial to determine if the couple were really lovey-dovey as claimed by Shannon Price who will inherit Coleman’s estate if proved right.

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The final ruling

When you consider the fact that the estate Gary left behind upon his death had very little or nothing to inherit, the case becomes even more interesting. The estate consists of – a modest building encumbered in a mortgage, this includes royalties earned from Gary’s acting days. Shockingly, Shannon was not deterred by this knowledge, she claimed her sole purpose was to get to keep her spouse’s ashes after winning the case.

All Shannon’s claims of having a sexual and loving marriage with Gary till his demise didn’t impress the Utah Judge one bit. Rather, the presiding judge preferred to listen to evidence from eyewitnesses who attested to Shannon’s physical abuse of Gary in public. The testimonies alleged that Price was totally averse to displaying physical affection for her husband in any form. Many saw her leading the 42-year-old man like a child in the public and she was always telling others that they don’t sleep in the same room.

When the restraining order Gary sought against Price in 2010 came up, the Utah Judge held onto it. Evidence also bared Shannon’s blatant open romantic entanglement with an unnamed man during her marriage to Coleman.

All these glaring facts helped the Utah judge in drawing a conclusion and in her final ruling, the judge didn’t find Shannon credible, dismissing her as a woman with significant selfish interest. The codicil was finally invalidated after it was ruled that there was no marriage. With that said, Coleman’s 2005 will came into effect, granting Anna Gary control of the deceased estate.