Corey Haim's Life and Death — inside the Child Star's Battle with Fame and Its Dark Side

Late actor Corey Haim, who rose to stardom as a child and teenager thanks to films like "Firstborn" and "The Lost Boys," battled addiction before dying at 38 years old.

Growing up in Hollywood is challenging, and for most child actors, making the transition to adulthood is tough. People like Macaulay Culkin and Danny Bonaduce know it firsthand.

[Corey Haim]'s death was believed to be a result of an accidental overdose.

COREY HAIM'S EARLY CAREER

For Corey Haim, things were also quite challenging. He was born in December 1971 in Toronto, Canada, and since he was a shy kid, he was encouraged to take acting lessons to improve his self-confidence.

When he was ten years old, he started appearing on TV commercials. Being in front of the cameras was natural for Haim, so he eventually landed an acting gig on the TV show "The Edison Twins."

During that time, his parents got divorced, something that negatively impacted Haim's life. Eventually, in 1984, Corey Haim was cast as Brian Livingston in the film "Firstborn," which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination.

His career skyrocketed in 1987, though, when he appeared in the vampire film "The Lost Boys" next to Corey Feldman. Their performances were so good that they became teen heartthrobs.

Both actors went on to work together on many other projects, including a TV show titled "The Two Coreys." Sadly, Haim's life started going out of control in the 90s due to a severe problem with drugs.

As Mirror reported, Haim started drinking beer while working in the 1986 film "Lucas." Then, while filming "The Lost Boys," he started smoking marijuana.

COREY HAIM'S DRUG ADDICTION

His situation worsened after he moved to Los Angeles, where he reportedly started doing cocaine and, eventually, crack. Haim's drug issues were so difficult to control that, in 1989, he entered rehab for the first time. He was only 18 years old.

Sadly, it did little-to-nothing to help with his problems as he kept relapsing over and over again. Haim, who once described himself as a "chronic relapser," even developed a dependence on prescription drugs.

People who worked with him pointed out that, when his addiction problems were present, he became vacant. Dr. Nicki J. Monte, who worked with Haim and Feldman in "The Two Coreys," said:

"[Haim] had a tremendous saboteur inside of him. And that saboteur he surrendered to. He was living under the spell of his addiction, and he was never able to break that spell."

Corey Haim's ongoing addiction brought problems not only to his health but also to his professional life, which is probably why, in the early 2000s, he was not getting as many acting gigs as he expected, so he took an eight-year break from the industry.

COREY HAIM DIED YOUNG

During that time, he went broke as much of his money was spent on hospital visits. In 2007, he was so desperate for money that he even tried to sell his own teeth and hair on eBay.

Sadly, on March 10, 2010, Haim passed away from pneumonia. Since he was surrounded by prescription drugs, his death was believed to be a result of an accidental overdose, but an autopsy revealed that he died of natural causes.

Haim used to blame his addiction on the "crowd" he was hanging with, and it was probably a contributing factor.

As the NZ Herald reported, the lives of both Coreys in Hollywood were strange, as they used to be taken with other young celebrities to unsupervised parties where alcohol and drugs were available.

Years after Haim passed away, Corey Feldman said that he and the late actor were sexually abused by men from a sort of high-level group of Hollywood pedophiles. Corey Haim's mother, Judy, denied Feldman's claims but admitted that her son had been molested on a single occasion by one man.