From Crush To Disgust

It's a sad thing to realize that the man who I once had a massive crush on in the 1990s turned out to be an arrogant insensitive prick.

Once upon a time as a teenager in the 1990s, I used to obsessively watched reruns of Happy Days, Charles in Charge, and the first two seasons of Diagnosis Murder to enjoy Scott Baio and fantasized us being married. I also knew then that Scott was quite a ladies man and he did have that arrogance but at the time it was tolerable. Maybe because we didn't have social media at the time- the internet was still new yet popular as it is today. Now, especially with Twitter, I learned since that Scott is even more arrogant and condescending than I thought. Actually, he was starting to fall from my “stars in eyes” since early 2000s when he did that reality show of still being single and then later experiencing pregnancy while settling down with his wife, Renee Sloan. It was a wake up call to realize what an actual kind of man Scott is: I knew he was quite a ladies man (Heather Locklear, Erin Moran, Pamela Anderson, Nicolette Sheridan, to name the most famous few) but damn, he might as well be crowned as the ultimate man-whore!

Then things got pretty quiet: although I got pretty disgusted by his Playboy ways and lost some respect but I held on to some hope. I did give him the benefit of being a dedicated husband to Renee as well as being a good father to his daughter. Life went on.

Last year, everything started to change for the worst. Scott became a loud supporter for Donald Trump when he became candidate for President of the United States. He says he had always been a Republican ever since he registered to vote. OK, fine, since Scott registered in the late 1970s, there's been Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and now Trump. The Bushes didn't get much favoritisms from America, but ever since Trump took office their images and reputations have taken a much positive light! I am going to hold off on my rant about Trump another time… Anyway, I don't really truly care who you or anyone else vote for- it is your right as it is mine. Same goes for Scott. He went as far as to speak at one of the rallies, praising Trump, who is, in my opinion, unfit to become President and clearly hasn't read our Constitution nor the Bill of Rights. Scott stood faithfully with Trump during his sexual harassment scandals… I guess a ladies man stands by it's own kind. Scott also showed his disrespectful attitude towards Hillary Clinton, going as far to call her a cunt (most likely the worst name-call to call a woman). Yet, when President Bill Clinton was accused of sexual harassment, he was the bad guy in Scott’s eyes. Scott also claimed on his Twitter account that he “always” treated women right. Really, Scott? Have you seen your own reality show called Scott Baio is 45… And Still Single? One woman from Scott’s romantic past accused him of giving her a STD that ruined her life financially and ability to have a family. And there's also his ex girlfriend and former co-star Erin Moran.

Erin. She sadly passed away in April of 2017. When she was on his reality show, they somewhat made peace from their brief romantic fling during Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi. After both shows ended, Erin hit a rough patch after few bit parts became far and few in between until nothing. Then, by 2010, Erin's home foreclosed so she and her husband went to stay with his mother in a trailer park in Indiana. It's fair to say that she hit rock bottom after having a disagreement with her mother-in-law that she and her husband went to live in a hotel until they eventually went back to the trailer park where she recently died. Erin, along with Marion Ross, Don Most, Anson Williams, and the Tom Bosley estate, sued CBS (who owns Happy Days, why? I don't know considering it used to air on ABC) over merchandise rights. They won the settlement but Erin still continued to live in the trailer park. It's been said that many tried to help her: Henry Winkler tried to get Erin a role on Arrested Development but nothing came of it; Scott tried to help a few times but nothing so he gave up and went on with his own life while his wife Renee kept in contact with Erin until less of a month before her passing. Perhaps Erin had pride? She didn't want any handouts or anything other than digging out of her hole. Maybe she subconsciously grew to love the trailer park life and got used to it? Only Erin can answer that. She was disappointed in Hollywood on how they turned their back to her- she isn't the first nor would she be the last. It's a sad thing, a tragic side of stardom. Meanwhile, Scott has found a pretty steady career with Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder, and See Dad Run with an occasional guest starring or movie role. He has now semi-retired and is not worried about his bank account. They barely spoke to one another since; Erin hadn't kept much contact with Ron, occasionally with Henry, often with Marion, regularly with Anson and Don.

While I genuinely believe that Scott is completely devastated by her death 100% and perhaps it rattled him to the core. However he really went on to have a foot-in-the-mouth moment that, I think, will hang over his head until he dies. There were a few headlines from tabloids and talk claiming that Erin died of a heroin overdose. Scott seemed to have believed it. The autopsy hadn't been performed yet at the time and knowing Erin's drug use, Scott went with it. As a guest on a radio talk show, he was only asked about Erin's drug use. I think Scott should’ve avoided the subject, say “no comment” and kindly say wait until the autopsy is done. The following day after her death, the cause of death is Squamous Cell Carcinoma throat cancer in stage 4. According to her widower, she was diagnosed in November and started treatment. Scott nor his wife did not know this, neither did Ron or Marion. Anson knew; I don't know for sure about Don or Henry. Scott did admit he jumped quickly to conclusions while receiving backlash.

Then came the most ridiculous thing: Scott claimed that he is getting backlash from his original comments about Erin's cause of death because he is a Donald Trump supporter! Oh, please! Trump had nothing to do with this nor Scott’s support of his. This backlash is about Scott's foot in mouth blunder moment, not his Presidential vote. That's when my views on Scott went from starry crush eyes to pathetic moron. I can't look or think of him the same way any more. I don't hate him, but I now disrespect Scott. I won't hold his past work against him with the shows I still love and hold and dear to my heart. He is just barely anything to me anymore.