Hey, remember Leif Garrett? You do? Really? Then you’re much older than we are. How does that make you feel, oldie?

But we digress. Leif Garrett – a man who once had a career so sparkling that he was in TV shows we’ve never seen, made films we’ve never heard of and recorded a number of songs that we didn’t even know existed – has been arrested for possession of heroin.

There are two appropriate responses to this news – one is ‘who’s Leif Garrett?’ and the other’s ‘oh, poor Leif Garrett. I liked him’. If you responded with the latter then IT’S PROBABLY TIME FOR YOUR BATH NOW. WE’LL GET SOMEBODY TO MASH UP YOUR DINNER FOR YOU WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED, OK?

Probably the biggest danger of taking hard drugs is that increases your chances of being mistaken for a washed-up celebrity from several decades ago. Think about it – would you really take crack if you thought that people would confuse you with Tatum O’Neil? Would you really become a heroin addict if you thought that someone would one day come up to you and say “Hey man, aren’t you Leif Garrett from the 1979 episode of CHiPs entitled RollerDisco?” No. No you wouldn’t. You’d exist on a diet of carrot juice and regular exercise just to stop that one unlikely thing from happening.

But Leif Garrett doesn’t have that problem. He’ll never be mistaken for Leif Garrett because nobody remembers who Leif Garrett is. So here’s a quick history lesson – Leif Garrett was a teen idol from the 1970s, probably most famous for his songs I Was Made For Dancin’ and it’s less successful follow-up Feel The Need. He was also an actor, nabbing roles in everything from Thunder Alley and Cheerleader Camp to the godawful Bee Gees-starring movie adaptation of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Plus a 1979 episode of CHiPs entitled RollerDisco.

But Leif has given most of his celebrity up in recent years to pursue a simpler life – a life that allegedly involves hiding as much heroin as possible in his shoes and then getting arrested for it. The LA Times reports:

The singer-actor and former Nicollette Sheridan flame was searched by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in a subway station just before noon, after a sheriff’s spokesman said Garrett was “sweating and shaking profusely.” The star is due back in court Feb. 24 to answer for the stash of black tar heroin that authorities say was hidden in his shoe.

Hopefully this will serve as the wake-up call that Leif Garrett so sorely needs. If this really is rock bottom, then maybe he can try to start pulling his life back in order, and maybe reclaim some of the old celebrity. Who knows, so many TV shows are being remade these days that it can only be a matter of time before CHiPs comes back. And when they remake the seminal 1979 episode RollerDisco, we’re sure that Leif will be ready to revisit his old role. You can do it, Leif! We’d believe in you if we had any idea who you were!

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Tagged as: CHiPs, Leif Garrett, Leif Garrett heroin