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On Monday, March 9, Corey Feldman is releasing his documentary titled (My) Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys in which he alleges sexual abuse at the hands of at least six people in the entertainment industry back when he was a young teen. Additionally, he says his friend and frequent co-star Corey Haim was also a victim of abuse at the hands of some of these same adults in Hollywood.
In February 2019, when Kristoff St. John passed away, Feldman revealed that the long-running Young and the Restless star would be interviewed in the documentary. Here’s what you need to know about St. John’s friendship with Feldman and why he was interviewed for the documentary.
Feldman and St. John Met on The Bad News Bears TV Series
Following the success of the 1976 sports comedy film The Bad News Bears starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal, CBS aired two seasons of a TV show of the same name in 1979 and 1980. Feldman and St. John played two of the kids on the ragtag baseball team — Feldman was Regi Tower, who was played by Scott Firestone in the film, and St. John was Ahmad Abdul-Rahim, who was played by Erin Blunt in the film.
The two child actors evidently hit it off and remained friends. In 2017, Feldman told a fan on Twitter that after the show, “Kristoff St. John and I stayed friends.”
He then wrote more about their friendship when St. John died in early 2019.
“Kristoff and I remained close friends all the way up until today! In fact, I suppose I will have the footage which will be perceived as his final world and his final work, as he was interviewed and is heavily featured in my upcoming doc #Truth. He was a loving father, a real friend,” wrote Feldman.
On Instagram ahead of the Rape of 2 Coreys premiere, Feldman took to Instagram to praise his late friend’s contribution to his documentary.
“This film would not be the same without his powerful presence and I thank God we caught up with him, still looking strong and healthy and giving a very solid interview, which officially and quite sadly marks his last on-screen appearance,” writes Feldman. “So in a bittersweet way, I can say his first and last contributions to the world as an artist happened by my side. RIP Kristoff St. John. I hope you are sleeping with the angels and your beautiful baby boy and I pray we make you proud up in heaven on Monday night.”
Note: All of Feldman’s social posts have been edited for grammar, punctuation and capitalization.
St. John Was Sexually Abused As a Teen
In 2014, St. John and his father, Christopher St. John, an actor most famous for his supporting role in the 1971 movie Shaft, produced and directed a documentary film together titled A Man Called God, which chronicled their family’s “spiritual excursion” to India where they became “trapped in a horrifying cult … [and] what they uncovered was anything but godly.”
It was here that Kristoff suffered sexual abuse at the hands of cult leader and guru Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, according to the documentary. The synopsis on the official site reads, “The St John family, Christopher, Maria and 14-year-old Kristoff are slowly swallowed up by Sai Baba and his cult as they participate in the spiritual daily ‘Ashram’ routine, documenting on film their treacherous visit. The cult eventually overwhelms the family, with Sai Baba revealing his demonic thirst for pedophilia and other evils.”
A woman who saw the movie, Cathy Eck, wrote on her blog that some local students in India confided in Kristoff that Sai Baba had sexually abused them and they were paid to keep quiet. Eventually, Kristoff was sexually abused as well. He told his father about it and eventually, they were forced to leave the cult.
The film was made up of a lot of footage from their original trip to India in 1980. It had been sitting in a vault for years until, in 2009, Kristoff approached his father and stepmother about putting the material together into a documentary film.
“[They] were very hesitant, and at one point, my father said, ‘You’re going to have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands!’” St. John told Soap Opera Network in a 2014 interview. “But this is my story … so I finally had my father agree that I could work on this film. And I took very painful stories and put it into my own words.”
St. John Died in February 2019
In 2019, at the age of 52, St. John died in his home in the San Fernando Valley. There was no sign of foul play but investigators did wonder if the actor had taken his own life. Prior to his death, he had called his ex-wife, Mia, and told her that their late son, Julian, who committed suicide in 2014, was at the door and was going to take him for a walk, she told Entertainment Tonight. He was shortly thereafter found dead in his home.
But the following month, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office ruled that the cause of death was “hypertrophic heart disease,” which is a condition that thickens the heart and makes it harder to pump blood. According to Deadline, the LA Coroner did say that “alcohol was a contributing factor” but ruled the death accidental.
Mia told Entertainment Tonight that he never got over their son’s suicide.
“When Julian passed… he literally died of a broken heart,” said Mia. “Kristoff suffered from bipolar; our son had schizophrenia. I just felt like it was just hard to get people to pay attention I have never been so determined to change how we treat the mentally ill in this country. I give you my word that my fight is never going to end. I’m going to make my boys proud.”
After Julian’s death, Mia founded the “El Saber es Poder — Knowledge is Power” foundation, which empowers individuals suffering from mental illness, homelessness, addiction, and poverty by providing programs to better educate, inform and improve physical and mental health.”
(My) Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys drops on Monday, March 9 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on Feldman’s website. https://www.mytruthdoc.com/
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