National Enquirer article on Whitey

[TJ]

GOLLY WALLY,
Whitey was a heroin addict!
After he left the classic TV show, "Leave It to Beaver," Stanley Fafara
--who played Whitey-- went to jail, became a heroin addict, and lived on
the streets.
But today Beaver's pal is clean and sober, writing a book looking to
jump-start his acting career and rekindling friendships with old
friends- including The Beave himself, Jerry Mathers!
In an exclusive ENQUIRER interview, 52-year-old Fafara revealed that
kind-hearted Mathers took time out from a recent charity appearance in
Portland, Ore., to have dinner with him and celebrate his recovery from
addiction.
"Jerry has a great heart," said Fafara. "He's a good friend."
And Mathers told The ENQUIRER: "I'm really happy fbr him. It looks
like he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and changed his life. It's
like he's found a second chance. I wish him the best."
Fafara's drug and alcohol abuse began around 1965, a few years after
he ended his 6-year stint as the innocent Whitey on the popular sitcom.
At age 18 he got his hands on a lump sum payment of $18,000 -- what
was left of his "Beaver" earnings -- and he eventually squandered it on
good times.
"I can remember walking around with $16,000 in my pocket at one
time," says Fafara, who appeared in 55 of the 234 "Leave It to Beaver"
episodes.
"My parents tried everything to help me- counseling, therapy, you
name it. But I was creating too many problems. My mother sent me to
Jamaica to live with my older sister. My mom thought it would do me good
to get away from Los Angeles."
But in Jamaica, Fafara developed an addiction to pharmaceutical
drugs -- the sleeping aid Seconal and amphetamines -- which were sold
legally over the counter there. When I came back to L.A. I was maybe 19
and I was addicted to Seconal," he recalled. "That's when the burglaries
started."
Fafara wound up doing a year in jail in the early 1970s after
pleading guilty to seven drugstore break-ins he pulled off to steal the
pills he craved.
After his stint in jail, he soon slipped back into drug use. And by
the late 1980s, he was living in Portland and addicted to heroin -- a
homeless addict one overdose away from the grave.
"I was 130 pounds, my skin was gray my eyes were yellow my liver was
failing,and I was terrified. I was in incredible pain all the time,"
said Fafara, who suffers 'from hepatitis C.
"My friends were scared I might O.D. and die, so nobody wanted me in
their house!"
Fafara hit bottom in the summer of 1995, when he suffered three
heroin over doses. Finally, he found the strength to get clean on his
second trip to detox.
"I've been clean since Aug. 22, 1995!" he declared.
These days Fafara it busy as a graphic artist. He's also penning a
memoir and taking acting classes, in hopes of resuming his childhood
craft. He joked: "I think I .could play a bad guy!'

BEAVER & HIS PAL: Jerry Mathers and Stanley Fafara teamed up on TV in
the popular show "Leave It to Beaver." Today they've rekindled their
friendship. Stanley is shown at right in from of the bar where he used
to drink. He says he's kicked his alcohol & drug problems.

[*InThisMoment*]

it's good to hear every things ok for him now . thanks for posting it tj.