Photo: Weld County Sheriff’s Office (4)
Since thesudden death of actress Amanda Petersonin 2015, who is best known for her role in 1987’sCan’t Buy Me Love, PEOPLE confirmed that the ’80s star struggled after falling out of the spotlight and was arrested numerous times between 2000 and 2012.
According to the Weld County Sheriff’s Office in Greeley, Colo., she was arrested for a DUI and possessing narcotic equipment on May 3, 2012.
On March 10. 2010, Peterson was arrested for third-degree assault following a fight with another woman in Fort Collins, Colo., according to a police report. The officer wrote that Peterson “appeared intoxicated” and “was slurring her speech” and had been drinking earlier at a bar with her young daughter and then-boyfriend. Her boyfriend told police that Peterson was taking medication for bipolar disorder and ADD and was not supposed to drink.
The troubled starlet was also arrested in 2000, 2003 and 2005. Her mugshots show the actress almost unrecognizable, and in one picture, she has a black eye.
On July 5, 2015, she was found dead at the age of 43 in her Greeley, Colo., home. The Weld County Coroner’s report revealed Peterson died of an accidental morphine overdose, according toThe Greeley Tribune.
Her mother, Sylvia Peterson, toldEntertainment Tonightthat her daughter struggled with drugs when she was younger but had been clean for a long time and that “this was not, in any way, a drug thing.”
Sylvia also spoke with PEOPLE and said she suspects her daughter’s sleep apnea may have contributed to her death.
She also shared some of her daughter’s final moments.
“She was in bed, and she’d had a wonderful day, and we were planning on a dinner the next day,” Sylvia said of her daughter, “so it was just a very, very big surprise.”
She also remembered her daughter, who made her big-screen debut inAnnie, as someone who “was just so much fun.”
“She was so great,” she said. “She had a cute sense of humor and a love of history — just a very, very cute person.”
Fellow actors, includingCan’t Buy Me LovecostarPatrick Dempsey, paid tribute to her.
Photographer Ryan Hartsock, who worked withPeterson on her final photo shootin 2012, told PEOPLE that she was “kindhearted.”
They remained in touch and would often meet up at Starbucks.
“She had the greatest smile. I know it brightened her day when she got all the emails and fan mail from everybody,” he said. “Really any time that we were together she was a kind, great person.”
source: people.com
