The eighties-era teen actor Corey Haim was found dead in a Los Angeles apartment on Wednesday morning from an apparent overdose.

Best known for his role in “The Lost Boys,” the 38 year old battled drug addiction for the better part of his adult years, thus fueling claims that child stars face an inevitable path of drugs, self-destruction and ultimately, for many, death.

In a 2004 interview with British tabloid the Sun, Haim described his drug addiction:

"I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck. But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day -- the doctors could not believe I was taking that much. And that was just the Valium -- I'm not talking about the other pills I went through."

The interview concluded with Haim's proclamation that he was clean, sober and ready to make a Hollywood comeback. He never made it.

Corey is just one of many child stars that have died tragic deaths and provide evidence that the child star curse is in fact very real:

• River Phoenix’s death in 1993 by speedball overdose came as a huge shock since his drug use was not public knowledge. Celebrities expressed their mourning thru their art: R.E.M. & Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote songs in his honor; at one of Nirvana's last USA shows in Seattle in 1994, Kurt Cobain dedicated the song "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam" to Phoenix (among other celebrities who died young); Gus Van Sant, with whom Phoenix worked in the film My Own Private Idaho, dedicated his 1994 movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as well as his 1998 novel Pink to him.
• Brad Renfro, who received accolades for his intense portrayal of disturbed youngster Mark Sway in 1994’s The Client, passed away in January of 2008 at 25. Few were surprised to hear of his fatal heroin overdose as his self-destructive path was publicly documented, most notably by his arrest in 2005 on heroin and methadone-related charges.
• Daniel Wayne Smith, 20, an actor and Reality Show star who was best known as the son of Ana Nicole Smith, died in 2006 as a result of the interaction of methadone, an analgesic used to treat heroin and morphine addiction, and the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro.
• Dana Plato, most famous for playing Kimberly Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes from 1978-1984, started having drug and alcohol problems early in life. At age 14, she overdosed on Valium and she admitted to drinking and using recreational drugs during her years on Diff'rent Strokes. She was unable to reinvent herself afterward and spiraled downhill. She ran into trouble with the law in her adulthood: in 1991, Plato was arrested for attempted robbery of a video store; and the following year she was arrested for forging prescriptions for Valium. She overdosed on Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin in 1999, just one day after telling Howard Stern that she had been clean for the better part of a decade.
• Bridgette Andersen was an American child actress best known for her part in the title role of the 1982 comedy Savannah Smiles. During her teen years, she struggled with an addiction to heroin. Despite her effort to stay clean, she died in 1997 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and drugs. She was 21 years old.
• Andrew Koenig may be remembered for his role as "Boner" on the 1980s sitcom "Growing Pains," but his more lasting contribution may be helping to expose the devastating effects of depression. At 41, Koenig committed suicide in February after going missing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Koenig's parents have been vocal about their son's struggle with depression and continued to speak out about it following his death.

"The only thing I want to say is if you're one of those people who feel that you can't handle it anymore, if you can learn anything from this it's that there are people out there who really care," Walter Koenig said. "You may not think so, and ultimately it may not be enough, but there are people that really, really care. Before you make that final decision, check it out again; talk to somebody."

These child stars who also dealt with drug addiction but have been lucky enough (so far) to have recovered:

• Drew Barrymore may known by teens as one of Charlie’s Angels but old people remember her as the adorable star of E.T and Firestarter. In her autobiography, “Little Girl Lost,” Drew confesses, "I had my first drink at age 9, began smoking marijuana at 10, and at 12 took up cocaine.” Her fame allowed her to slip into L.A. clubs easily so she became a party girl before she even had a learner’s permit. Luckily she sought help and was able to reinvent herself as the fabulous star that she is today.
• Jodie Sweetin was a young TV darling in the hit sitcom Full House but her innocence (and beauty) fell by the wayside when she became a ravaging crystal meth addict. Sweetin was a married college student when she first tried the drug at 22. Just six months later, she had developed a crippling daily habit that she kept secret from her husband. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out and they were divorced soon after. But she claims to have turned her life around and tells all in her book unsweetened. Released in 2009, the memoir documents her long and sordid affair with drugs she describes as both socially acceptable (coke, Ecstasy) and those better done behind closed doors (meth). She attributes the birth of her daughter in 2008 as the motivation for finally cleaning up her act but unsubstantiated rumors of a relapse have circulated since her split from her second husband in late 2009.
• Natasha Lyonne had her biggest mainstream success as wisecracking Jessica in American Pie and its first sequel, American Pie 2. Her troubles began in 2001 when she hit a road sign in a rental car and tried to flee the scene. She pled guilty to driving under the influence and received six months probation and 50 hours of community service. In 2004, she was arrested after an argument where she threatened her neighbor, and shortly afterward she was evicted from her NYC brownstone after he discovered she’d nearly destroyed it. By August 2005, she was at a Manhattan hospital being treated for hepatitis C, a heart infection, and a collapsed lung. While there it was discovered that she was receiving methadone treatment for a heroin addiction, and that she'd been homeless after Rapaport evicted her. Lucky for her she’s been working steadily since she returned to the screen in 2007. In an interview with Heeb magazine last year, the three-years sober Lyonne said, "It is kind of a wacky idea to put your child in business at six years old. I had to become coherent and a businesswoman at six. By 10, I was a jaded professional. By 16, my youth was over and my goose cooked. I don't think [my parents] knew better. It was a decision of my parents' built on hopeful ignorance."

Why do so many child stars end up with severe drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and young death? Maybe it's the inability to cope with fame or the collapse of stardom? Or perhaps it’s the easy access to anything and everything in a world where no one says no and that, thanks to their celebrity status, they can get away with anything? There are a million and one theories; Drew Barrymore once said that she was a drug addict by the time she was thirteen because the adults were all too willing to cater to her so called needs because she was famous. Whatever the explanation, these celebrities rarely turn out the way one would expect them to… and we think that’s really very sad.