Getty Corey Feldman (L) and Corey Haim.
Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were child actors who met on the set of The Lost Boys in 1987, when they were 14 years old.
Feldman and Haim had an instant on-screen connection that grew into a close, offscreen friendship as the two actors shared in a simultaneous rise to stardom. Their friendship survived extraordinary success and failures as well. The actors, known as The Two Coreys, developed a bond that withstood the abuse Feldman claims they suffered as children and the impact experiences in Hollywood had on their adult lives.
Here’s everything we know about Corey Feldman and Corey Haim’s friendship:
1. Corey Feldman & Corey Haim Had Big Breaks in Hollywood at the Same Time
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Feldman and Haim had somewhat parallel ascents to fame. Feldman, while he began his acting career at the age of three, got his first major role as Tommy Jarvis, the lead in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter in 1984. Haim had his first big break the same year, playing a child in the thriller, Firstborn. Both actors were beginning to make names for themselves in the horror genre.
Haim, born in Toronto, Canada, began his acting career working in Canadian TV and film productions. Following the critical acclaim of his leading role in the 1986 production of Lucas, he moved to Los Angeles. In 1987, he began work on a TV series entitled Roomies and also secured his first major Hollywood role playing Sam Emerson in Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys.
2. The Two Met on the Set of “The Lost Boys”
Haim met Feldman on the set of The Lost Boys and the two 14-year-old boys became fast friends. At the height of their fame, they appeared together in leading roles including License to Drive (1988) and Dream A Little Dream (1989). They earned the joint nickname “The Two Coreys” due to the fact that they spent so much time together on- and off-screen, reported Rolling Stone.
Feldman and Haim worked with actor Jon Grissom on License to Drive and Dream A Little Dream. Grissom’s acting career consists only of these two credits, playing bit roles in each film.
3. Haim and Feldman Frequented Alphy’s Soda Pop Club
Newsweek reported that, as the Haim and Feldman were not of legal age to drink or go to nightclubs with their older co-stars, Haim and Feldman would typically end up spending their free time together while they weren’t working. They frequented Alphy’s Soda Pop Club, along with actor Jon Grissom, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which was owned by Alphy Hoffman, the son of Bobby Hoffman, an influential casting director.
Feldman alleged that he first met Alphy Hoffman, the owner of the popular underage club, when he was 12 years old. The club owner came to Feldman’s house to pick him up and take him to a party at the venue. Attending these parties with Hoffman became a regular part of Feldman’s social life as a teenager. Feldman claimed that these parties were minimally supervised by parents or guardians of the club’s underaged guests, however, Feldman claims that a group of adult men would frequent the underage club to party with the child actors.
Feldman claimed, “There [were] a bunch of these guys, they were all hanging out together at these parties … One night … I passed out while I was watching [a] movie, and when I woke up, there was a porn on … I remember I could barely walk. I don’t know what I was given at that time, but I know that I was really out of it.”
ShowBiz Cheetsheet reported that Feldman was 14 years old at the time of Hoffman’s alleged abuse.
4. Feldman Claimed that Haim Was Abused on the Set of “Lucas”
(My) Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys a the documentary that Feldman developed and funded himself so that he could reveal the names of the people who he has claimed sexually abused him. He has also claimed these situations were responsible for his late friend Haim’s ongoing struggle with drug addiction and, ultimately, his early death.
Feldman told The Mirror in May, 2016 that Haim was raped when he was 11 years old on the set of Lucas. He did not reveal if this was the first instance of abuse that Haim allegedly suffered, but that the abuse only continued for The Two Coreys throughout their career as child stars. Feldman said, “He had more direct abuse than I did. With me, there were molestations … but with Corey, his was direct rape.”
In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Feldman said, “I know every single person that interfered with [Haim’s] life and he knew every person that interfered with mine… All these men were all friends. Ask anybody in our group of kids at that time: They were passing us back and forth to each other.”
In a 2011 Fox interview with Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson on NBC’s Little House on the Prairie, the former actress alleged that the abuse was not only well known, but something of a topic of casual conversation. Arngrim told Fox, “This has been going on for a very long time. It was the gossip back in the 80s. People said, ‘Oh, yeah, the Coreys, everyone’s had them.’ People talked about it like it was not a big deal … I literally heard that they were ‘passed around.’” Angrim continued, “The word was that they were given drugs and being used for sex. It was awful—these were kids, they weren’t 18 yet. There were all sorts of stories about everyone from their … ‘set guardians’ on down … these two had been sexually abused and were totally being corrupted in every possible way.”
5. Both Haim & Feldman Dealt with Drug Abuse
Haim’s career was at its peak in 1988, when the actor was 16 years old. He frequently appeared on the covers of teen fan magazines like Tiger Beat and Bop, and was once mobbed by a crowd of female fans during a performance. He began smoking marijuana while working on The Lost Boys (1986). He eventually moved on to cocaine before he turned to crack, reported the Chicago Tribune.
He went to rehab for the first time in 1989 and after his release, within the same year, he was arrested twice for possession of heroin. At this point, his career began to stall when he released several direct to TV films that were not well received. He starred in the Feldman-directed film Busted in 1996 but was fired due to his drug abuse that rendered him unable to work, and one year later he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, revealed She Knows. By 1999, ten years after Haim reached the height of his fame, the former child star was jobless, relapsing constantly and returning to rehab only to fail again. He was destitute and put one of his teeth and clumps of his hair for bid on eBay, reported Entertainment Weekly.
All together, Feldman and Haim made nine films and one reality series that lasted for two seasons. The Two Coreys, which premiered on A&E in 2007, recounted the friends’ traumatic experiences of abuse and depicted Haim’s ongoing struggle with a crippling drug addiction. The series was canceled after its second season, reported E! News.
Feldman also dealt with issues of drug use, as he admitted on Marriage Boot Camp Reality Stars. On the show he stated, “I did drugs because I was abused by a pedophile.”
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