Shaun Weiss’ Friend Says Father’s Death Led To ‘Downward Spiral’ For ‘Mighty Ducks’ Star, Per ‘TMZ’
Earlier this week, movie fans who grew up watching Shaun Weiss play goalkeeper Greg Goldberg in the Mighty Ducks film franchise were shocked to see the former child actor appearing much older than his 39 years, following an arrest for public intoxication. According to one of his longtime friends, Weiss’ arrest came after years in a “downward spiral” of substance abuse, apparently triggered by his father’s untimely death.
Speaking to TMZ, Marni Gairhan, who has known Weiss for close to 15 years, admitted that the Mighty Ducks star “picked the wrong crowd to hang with for way too long,” and has been dealing with substance abuse issues for quite some time. The report added that several of Weiss’ other friends are “fearing” for Shaun’s life and are concerned that he might have “hit rock bottom,” hence the need to send him to rehab for his alleged problems with drugs and alcohol. According to Gairhan, Weiss grew distant from his friends last year when she found him sleeping on her porch and contacted his niece for assistance.
Gairhan also explained to TMZ that Shaun Weiss’ issues began about three years ago, following the death of his father. The publication noted that Weiss was also arrested for possession of methamphetamines prior to last weekend’s public intoxication arrest and was sentenced to 150 days in prison for the former charges. While he was able to continue his acting career after his roles in the Mighty Ducks trilogy, TMZ added that he hasn’t found acting work in recent years and that none of his friends ever saw the “finished products” of his recent work, despite repeated claims he was busy on an acting project.
'Mighty Ducks' actor Shaun Weiss arrested for public intoxication: https://t.co/CipJQ8P6Z2 pic.twitter.com/v5BTRDRvsH
— Complex (@Complex) August 7, 2018
According to his IMDB page, Shaun Weiss last acted in the short film Netflix & Chill and the TV series Blessed, where he appeared as characters named Shaun in both 2016 releases. Likewise, he played himself in the TV series Why Not Weiss, which ran from 2015 to 2016 and was also cast as a character named Denny in the 2016 independent film Mad.
As a young actor who first rose to fame thanks to the Mighty Ducks trilogy, Weiss had recurring roles in the teen-oriented series Boy Meets World and Freaks and Geeks, and was a regular cast member in Who’s the Boss star Tony Danza’s short-lived, eponymous series, The Tony Danza Show. Furthermore, his once-chubby frame earned him a starring role in the 1995 film Heavy Weights, which also starred Weiss’ fellow Mighty Ducks cast member Aaron Schwartz, future Saturday Night Live mainstay Kenan Thompson, and the late Joseph Wayne Miller, who died in January at the age of 36.
In the years prior to Weiss’ alleged descent into substance abuse following his father’s passing, the actor faced accusations of physical and mental abuse from his ex-girlfriend, Sonja Dimitrievska, who claimed in 2013 that he went as far as trying to urinate on her during a drunken, violent rage, according to a previous report from Uproxx.
Despite her apparent estrangement from Shaun Weiss, Gairhan told TMZ that she still wants him to get assistance for his apparent issues with drugs and alcohol, adding that she started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for his rehab expenses.
