The pint-sized Coleman told Inside Edition that he had tied the knot with 22-year-old Shannon Price in August 2007 in a mountaintop ceremony in the Valley of Fire State Park Nevada. They decided to keep their marriage under wraps to enable to Price to keep her own identity as an actress rather than just be known for being Coleman’s wife.

Coleman initially met his bride on the set of the 2006 comedy movie Church Ball. At 4 foot 8 inches, he is almost a foot shorter than Price. He is also 18 years her senior. However, the unlikely lovebirds don’t think the height or age differences will come between them. Coleman also revealed that Shannon was not only his first wife but that she was his first true love. He told Inside Edition ''I never got the opportunity to be romantic or feel romantic with anyone. I wasn't saving myself; she just happened to be the one.''

Coleman curse lifted?

Gary Coleman’s wedding marks a definite upturn in fortune in his life. He has endured troubled times since his 1980s TV heyday. Since Diff’rent Strokes’ demise in 1986, Coleman has not only struggled for work after finding himself typecast thanks to his irrepressible portrayal of Arnold Jackson but also found himself mired in legal and financial wrangles.

In 1989, he sued his own parents for misappropriating his $8.3 million dollar trust fund. Although he eventually won the case in 1993, Coleman declared himself bankrupt six years later. In 1998, he punched female fan Tracey Fields after she asked for his autograph and was order to pay her medical bills by a judge. In 2003, he launched an ill-fated bid to become Governor of California and finished a creditable but distant 8th behind Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Coleman’s cursed luck even extended to his Diff’rent Strokes co-stars Dana Plato and Todd Bridges. Plato, who played Kimberley Drummond, died of a drugs overdose in 1999 while Bridges’ (Willis Arnold) biggest claim to fame came in 2002 when he beat Vanilla Ice in a televised celebrity boxing match.