Dana Plato’s cause of death, confirmed

Warning: This article mentions details of an alleged suicide. Please read with caution.

Born on Nov. 7, 1964, in Maywood, California, Dana Plato was an actress best known for her role as the caring Kimberly Drummond on the popular American sitcom Diff’rent Strokes between 1978 and 1986. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Plato was considered to be something of a teen idol.

Beyond Diff’rent Strokes, Plato had an extensive filmography that included many other television and movie credits. As per IMDb, her other TV appearances included a 1975 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, a 1976 episode of Family, a 1978 episode of What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?, three episodes of Hello, Larry, and an episode of The Facts of Life in 1979, two episodes of CHiPs in 1979 and 1980, the 1983 television film High School U.S.A., a 1974 episode of The Love Boat, and a 1985 episode of Growing Pains.

Her theatrical movie credits include 1977’s Exorcist II: The Heretic and Return to Boggy Creek, 1978’s California Suite, 1989’s Prime Suspect, and many minor and less notable films.

Tragically, on May 8, 1999, Plato passed away in Moore, Oklahoma. She was only 34. But what happened to bring her life to such a devastatingly premature end?

How did Dana Plato die?

According to her IMDb bio (and various other sources), Dana Plato passed away from what initially appeared to be an accidental overdose of the painkiller “Loritab.” However, 13 days after her death, on May 21, 1999, a coroner’s inquest ruled her death a suicide due to the large amount of drugs in her body and her history of previous attempts to take her own life (as per a now-archived page of the Chicago Tribune). It was a ruling several of her friends and associates disputed.

On the day she died, Plato had just finished an interview with Howard Stern (an interview she hoped would revive her stalled career) when she and her fiancé, her manager Robert Menchaca, headed back to California in their Winnebago motor home. The couple stopped at Menchacha’s parents’ house in Moore for a Mother’s-Day-weekend visit. After Plato complained of feeling unwell, she took a few doses of Lortab, along with the muscle-relaxant carisoprodol, and headed for a nap alongside her fiancé. When he awakened, he found her unresponsive next to him.

Plato had struggled with substance abuse for several years before her death. Her struggles were put down to her difficulty finding more acting work after Diff’rent Strokes ended.

We hope she has now found her peace.

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