Gary Coleman's Wife May Not Have Had Authority to End Life Support

As Gary Coleman is laid to rest this weekend, his family has yet to decide whether the memorial service will be public or private. Coleman's estranged parents will reportedly be in attendance.

An attorney for Coleman also says he's not certain that Coleman's wife, Shannon Price, had the authority to take him off life support on Friday.

42-year-old Coleman, best known for his role as Arnold Drummond on the hit 1980s sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes,' died last week at a Provo, Utah, hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was in a coma and on life support when his family made the decision to take him off.

Santaquin Police Chief Dennis Howard said that there will be no criminal investigation, and that authorities responded to Coleman's house on a medical call. On the same day that he fell and sustained a head injury, Coleman had just had a four-hour dialysis treatment, according to a friend.

Because life had been so rough for Coleman after his star faded, holding a public memorial might give fans and the public an opportunity to hear more about the type of person Coleman truly was from those who knew him best.

All we really heard about the actor over the past few decades has been mostly negative. The articles about his life always included the word "tragic."

From suing his parents for stealing the money he earned as a child star, to various run-ins with the law, including domestic violence charges and his bizarre appearance with his wife on 'Divorce Court,' Coleman was constantly in the tabloids.

Add his medical and money problems and it seems as if he had a difficult, tortured existence. Our society places such a premium on being famous, but fame is not always what it's cracked up to be.

Unfortunately, the drama may continue even after Coleman's death. Coleman's attorney, Randy Kester, has said that there may be some issues surrounding the authority that Coleman's wife had over his medical decisions and has over his estate.

"Some people have raised the issue that they saw Gary and Shannon on 'Divorce Court,' and now there's some questions about whether or not they were married at the time of the death and whether [Shannon] had the authority to pull the plug at the hospital," Kester told Us magazine.

"Some people in the public are raising issues about whether she had authority to do that and if she has authority to be making funeral arrangements, and exactly where she fits into his estate," he added. "I think there's going to be some developing controversy about some issues of authority."

It's hard to ignore the images of Coleman on 'Diff'rent Strokes.' He had great comic timing for a kid and was able to carry the show for years. Until Janet Jackson started guest starring on the show, Coleman was the only reason to watch.

Like Michael Jackson, Coleman may be a bit underappreciated and misunderstood. Despite both men's troubled pasts, they both shared their gifts with the world: Coleman's was comedy and Jackson's was entertaining and philanthropy.

They were both rewarded handsomely for their efforts, but money, clearly, does not equal happiness.

The public learned about Jackson as a father and human being after his death. Maybe a public memorial will help pull Coleman's legacy from the tabloid covers