Today, Dr. Oz sits with child star Dustin Diamond. Everyone knew Screech from Saved by the Bell, the role that catapulted Diamond into teen stardom around the world. But his teenage fame gave way to destructive habits and salacious rumors that left him alone, an outcast from not only his cast mates but also the industry that created him.
Dr. Oz talks with Diamond to set the record straight in his very first national TV interview. What really happened to Dustin after Saved by the Bell?
On repairing his image and apologizing to his cast mates Diamond says: "Oddly enough, it's doing interviews like this and getting the word out there. This is my best weapon for repairing the damage that was caused by things that were done by people who took advantage of me and the situation I was in at the time. I will say, guys, I think you're fantastic, working with you has been just one of the icons of my life and I'm sorry that this has taken advantage of me, the book and other situations I'm sure we'll talk about here. But I'm sure that you've experienced downfalls, as well, in your time and I'm still loving you guys."
On his relationships with cast mates after his book was released, Diamond states: "Well, I hadn't talked to most of the cast mates in a long time. Mario Lopez and I speak frequently and Dennis Haskins and I speak frequently. Of course, Slater and Belding. And they know what I went through, but the rest of the cast--Mark Paul I haven't seen since I was 16 years old, so I feel terrible for it but what can I do? I guess Tweet him. Unfortunately, being in the entertainment industry, you get fleeced a lot and you get taken advantage of a lot. And it hasn't been my first bout with that and so I've gotten good at just kind of brushing it off and moving forward. If I dwell on the past, then it just eats at me and there's nothing I can do about it."
On realizing that he made a big impact on fans, Diamond reveals: "It was very touching to have fans that came up to me and I've had people multiple times come up to me, I mean, we're talking hundreds and hundred--thousands of people that have come up and said, you got me through high school. You know, I was the Screech in my school and you represented everything that I felt at that time, which I never thought of when I was doing the show. When I was 11 through 21, I was just memorizing lines and trying to make the live audience laugh and the producers laugh and everything else. Trying to work with my cast mates and make the director happy and everything else. It was work for me. I didn't think about the impact I had on the fan base until years later, until I got to meet them.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Television
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