‘I Want to Give Others Hope’
With his charming performances in Family Affair, Tom Sawyer and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Johnny Whitaker was one of the most iconic child stars of the ’70s — and though he still acts, he’s not always recognized. “I don’t force my childhood on people. If it comes up, I might say, ‘I gave
Jodie Foster her first on-screen kiss [in Tom Sawyer],’ ” Johnny, 56, shares with Closer. “Fans over 40 go, ‘I know who you are!’ And to young people, I’ll say, ‘Your parents know me.’ ” Though his road was rocky at times, largely due to a 1988 to 1997 battle with drugs and alcohol, Johnny used his experiences to strengthen his work as a recovery counselor. “My hope is that, through any celebrity that I do have, I can continue to help and give others hope.” — Gregg Goldstein
The Family
Affair star fought addiction, turned his life around and found a new purpose
You’ve had quite a few memorable roles. What’s your favorite?
Tom Sawyer. It was fun to star in a major motion picture, and almost all of my family came to Missouri for two months and were a part of the film. My father played one of Muff Potter’s drinking buddies. My sisters had to have their hair a certain way, so my mother was doing ringlets every night. It was a little goofy, but lots of fun.
You worked with Jodie Foster on that and another film. What was she like?
On Napoleon and Samantha, she was learning French; we laughed about that. But there were two lions in the film, and Jodie got bit by one.
Wow. What happened?
We were on a thin path, she slipped, and I believe the wrangler said the lion scooped her up and put her in its mouth to protect her. He did puncture her skin. I don’t think there was any hospitalization, but she was done for the day — her mother took her off the set. Jodie wasn’t as traumatized as her mom, but from then on, she was a bit more afraid of the cat than me.
I’d imagine! Of all the roles you played, which one was the game changer?
On [my first film] The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Brian Keith and I became baseball buddies. It was Brian who said, “I want him to audition for the role of Jody on Family Affair.” The original characters were a 6-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, but when the producers saw Anissa Jones and me, they said, “Stop the presses! We have Buffy and Jody, and we’re going to make them twins.”
When she overdosed on drugs in 1976 at age 18, was it tough on you?
Anissa and I were close on set — we treated each other like brother and sister. My family and I were [at a church meeting], and someone asked if I’d heard about Buffy having died. I thought, No — if it happened, I’d be one of the first to know. But I couldn’t sleep that night, and the next morning I heard. I called her family to console them. Earlier, my agent had told me she’d come across Anissa sitting in the gutter, and I thought, I’m going to have to see how she’s doing. I didn’t, and I felt a bit guilty that maybe I could’ve helped.
What caused your addiction issues?
Shortly after my wife of four years left me [in the ’80s] to marry the man who gave me my bachelor party, I lost faith in myself and turned to drugs and alcohol and sex. My family staged an intervention. I became a certified addiction treatment counselor, started a nonprofit called Paso Por Paso (Step by Step) to help non-English-speaking addicts, and joined the board of Alcohol
Justice, a watchdog group that makes sure alcohol is not being advertised to youth. I’m currently working on a documentary about Portugal’s drug policy.
“I’m glad for all that’s happened to me, good and bad. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
That’s great. Did you find love again?
When I was a missionary in Portugal, I baptized a young lady, Lorena, who had a son, Emanuel. She came to the U.S. and we decided we were gonna get married. Unfortunately it didn’t work out — because I was a drug addict and I couldn’t stop — but we were a semifamily. Emanuel came to live with my parents in California, got a scholarship to UCLA and today he’s a University of Oregon soccer coach. His three kids call me Papa John.
So you got to be a dad and a granddad!
For Emanuel’s 40th birthday, Lorena and I surprised him by visiting at 1 a.m., the time he was born. I showed my grandkids the old Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and the 2016 version. They said, “That’s cool — our Papa John’s on TV!” — Reporting by Ilyssa Panitz