"He was never able to break that spell." The meteoric rise and fall of child star Corey Haim.

This post deals with child sexual abuse and might be triggering for some readers.

In the 1980s, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

In mere years, the actors experienced a meteroic rise to fame.

Affectionately known as The Two Coreys or The Coreys, the young actors starred in a number of popular movies together, including horror film The Lost Boys and comedy Licence to Drive.

But as the story often goes, Feldman and Haim were soon lost down the dark path that so many other child stars take.

My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys will be aired in a worldwide stream on March 9, 2020. Post continues below.

As Feldman and Haim transitioned from child stars to adults, concerning reports they had been sexually abused at the hands of several powerful men in Hollywood began to emerge.

“People said, ‘Oh yeah, the Coreys, everyone’s had them,'” Alison Arngrim, who starred in Little House On The Prairie, told Fox News in 2011.

“I literally heard that they were ‘passed around’. The word was that they were given drugs and being used for sex.”

Amid the sexual abuse claims, which continue to resurface in the media to this day, the Coreys both struggled with their life in the limelight, leading them down a dark path dotted with drug and alcohol addiction.

For Haim in particular, the self-confessed “chronic relapser” struggled with addiction issues from his teenage years up until his death, leading him to attend rehab a total of 15 times.

Corey Haim’s rise and fall.

Corey Haim launched his career at the age of 13, appearing in the educational comedy series The Edison Twins from 1984 to 1985, and thriller film Firstborn in 1984.

During his first day on set for Firstborn, Haim was involved in an altercation with actor Peter Weller. After complimenting the actor, who was playing his mother’s violent boyfriend in the film, Weller threw Haim against a wall and demanded he never speak to him again after a take. It took three assistants to separate the pair.

In the years that followed, Haim appeared in a number of films, including Secret Admirer, Murphy’s Romance and coming-of-age story Lucas.

In 1987, Haim appeared in his big break, The Lost Boys, alongside Feldman, who would become his lifelong best friend.

On the set of the movie, Haim, who was already accustomed to drinking beers on set, tried marijuana for the first time.

From there, Haim began experimenting with cocaine, which " soon led to crack".

He also became a regular at Alphy's Soda Pop Club, which was a private nightclub for underage actors in Hollywood. Common guests at the club included Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano, and Tori Spelling.

"I lived in LA in the 1980s, which was not the best place to be," the actor later admitted.

For Haim, his appearance alongside Feldman in Licence to Drive in 1988 marked his "breaking point" for drug addiction.

Amid receiving 2,000 fan letters a week and dodging teenage girls waiting at his apartment building, Haim decided to get clean.

At the age of 18 in 1989, he entered rehab for the first time, admitting: "I wanted to be clean for me, not for anyone else".

Despite initially coming clean, Haim would continue to struggle with addiction, relapses and rehab visits for the rest of his life.

"Corey had a tremendous saboteur inside of him. And that saboteur he surrendered to," Dr Nicki J Monti, a psychotherapist who worked with Haim, said.

"He was living under the spell of his addiction and he was never able to break that spell."

As Haim's acting jobs began to decrease in the early 2000s, the actor took an eight year break from the spotlight. During that time, Haim racked up a huge debt due to medical bills and lengthy hospital stays.

While attempting to pay off the bills, the actor tried to sell clumps of his hair and an extracted tooth on eBay.

"He made so many attempts at suicide," Feldman said, reflecting on the tough time in Haim's life.

"He's overdosed so many times. I mean, I can't begin to tell you, having him foaming at the mouth, coming downstairs and finding him that way and drooling and not able to speak, and me, having to put charcoal down his throat so that he could breathe."

After his break from the spotlight and a self-confessed "addiction to pretty much everything", Haim attempted to make a comeback in 2008, running a full-page advertisement in Variety, stating: "This is not a stunt. I'm back. I'm ready to work. I'm ready to make amends".

During this time, Haim and Feldman appeared together in two seasons of The Two Coreys, which was a reality show chronicling Haim's experience living with Feldman and his wife while he attempted to get back on his feet.

But after Haim turned up to the set of a sequel of The Lost Boys under the influence, Feldman publicly vowed to cut ties with Haim until he was clean.

"I don't feel that he's a safe person to have around my wife and child at the moment, for a multitude of reasons," Feldman said at the time.

"I am not going to watch him destroy himself."

The pair later reconciled off-camera.

Corey Haim's death.

After living with Feldman and his now ex-wife, Susie, Corey Haim was living in an apartment with his mother, who had breast cancer at the time.

On March 10, 2010, at the age of just 38, Haim died in his mother's home.

At the time, there was some confusion around the 38-year-old's cause of death.

As police found a number of prescription medications around Haim, police workers initially stated that his death could have been drug-related.

It was later ruled that Haim's death was due to pneumonia.

The abuse allegations.

Haim and Feldman largely bonded due to their shared experience and understanding of Hollywood predators preying on young actors.

In 2007, on their reality show The Two Coreys, the duo said they had been molested when they were starting out in Hollywood.

"That was one of those things that we'd discussed not bringing up,” Feldman told GQ. “And then Haim brought it up anyway.”

At the age of 11, Haim was allegedly sexually abused on the set of Lucas. In 2017, actor Dominick Brascia made a claim in the National Enquirer that the abuser was Charlie Sheen, a claim denied by Sheen’s spokesperson.

After years of allegations and attempts to expose his claims of a paedophile ring within Hollywood, Feldman is now releasing an independent documentary about his experiences.

The documentary, titled Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys, will air at the same time worldwide via an online stream on March 9.

"I am able to say the names of who did what and the details of who did what," Feldman confirmed about the film.

"There is going to be people who are going to be very unhappy that this is coming out. People who want it silenced. Nothing can stop it at this point. That’s why we’re only showing it one time. We want to get it out. I’ve done my job, I’ve kept my promise."

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Speaking to Rolling Stone in April 2019, Feldman said he believed he could bring down a paedophile ring that he had been aware of since he was a child.

"Right off the bat, I can name six names, one of them who is still very powerful today. [It’s] a story that links all the way up to a studio [and] connects paedophilia to one of the major studios," he said.

According to Feldman, Haim begged him to tell his story if he died first.

"Nobody knows what it feels like to constantly console somebody whose life has been ruined by rape." Feldman told Rolling Stone last year, "unless you’ve been there, holding them when they cry, bringing them back to life over and over, stopping them from walking around with a knife."

"I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to tell his story. I didn’t ask for any of it."

Feature Image: Getty.

For more on this topic:

• On March 9, 2020, Corey Feldman will name alleged Hollywood pedophiles in his new documentary.
  
• 'I can no longer defend him.' Inside Michael Jackson's relationship with the two Coreys.
  

If this post brings up any issues for you, you can contact Bravehearts (an organisation providing support to victims of child abuse) on 1800 272 831.

If you are concerned about the welfare of a child you can get advice from the Child Abuse Protection Hotline by calling 1800 688 009, or visiting their website. You can also call the 24-hour Child Abuse Report Line (131 478).

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