A former child star’s mom feared her daughter was “in with a bad group of people” and begged for help just months before she died.
Anissa Jones shot to fame after starring as Buffy in the CBS sitcom Family Affair, but she sadly died from an accidental drug overdose after attending a party with friends when she was 18 years old.
Anissa gained a legion of fans thanks to her time on Family Affair, but her career took a turn when the show was abruptly canceled in 1971, when the actress was just 13 years old.
She tried to audition for other movies, but her role as Buffy meant she struggled to be seen as anything other than a precious little girl. As a result, Anissa turned her back on showbusiness.
Anissa’s Family Affair co-star Kathy Garver wrote about what happened in her book, The Family Affair Cookbook. “She bonded with local teenage friends and started to have the freedom that had been denied her the five years she was on the TV show,” Kathy said as she opened up about what happened when Anissa left the TV and film industry.
However, Kathy said a lot of Anissa’s new friends were “drug users.” She said her former co-star went in a downward spiral over the next five years.
During this time, Anissa’s parents divorced and it led to a fierce custody battle. Her dad won custody of Anissa and her brother, but when their father died, Anissa went to live with a friend.
Kathy said the teenager was “in trouble,” suggesting she couldn’t keep a job and had “bad sleeping patterns, bad eating patterns, incredible mood swings.”
Kathy also recalled Anissa’s mom begging her to help as she shared her concern for her daughter at her 18th birthday party in March 1976.
“Her mom had said, ‘Kathy, I wish you’d spend some more time with Anissa because I really think that she’s in with a bad group of people,'” she previously told Fox News.
That birthday was sadly Anissa’s last as she died on August 28, 1976. On the night she died, Anissa had gone to a party in Oceanside, California, with her boyfriend, Allan Kovan. The house where the party took place belonged to the father of a 14-year-old friend.
Other people at the party were aged between 12 and 22, according to police. Anissa was found dead in an upstairs bedroom. The coroner’s report listed her death as a drug overdose and later ruled it was accidental.
Writing in her book, Kathy said, “It was such a tragedy that this amazing little girl, such a bright light, was extinguished at such a young age.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
