Teenage idol and “I Was Made for Dancin’” singer Leif Garrett saddened fans with his look at 61.
The singer opened up about his life after fame and revealed the reason for his downfall.
Leif also spoke candidly about his life now, years after he was “living this lie.”
Leif Garrett, along with David and Shaun Cassidy and the Bay City Rollers, was one of the names people thought of when it came to ’70s teenage idols. The “I Was Made for Dancin’” singer earned worldwide fans for his boyish looks and pop songs.
However, in 2023, he saddened fans when they saw his look at age 61. The star was a wholesome act that was inoffensive to his mainly pre-teenage girl fans and their parents, but his adult career was doomed, like most child stars.
In the mid-’80s, his career was pretty much done, although he did go back to acting in movies that didn’t gain much traction. Sadly, he was also struggling with substance abuse and the guilt over his involvement in one of his friends, Roland Winkler, becoming paralyzed from a car accident.
Over two decades ago, Garrett was drunk and high when he drove off the Hollywood Freeway, leaving Winkler paralyzed. In 2020, the celebrity revealed that his friend had since died, and the last time he saw him was when they did “Behind the Music.”
The meet-up was unplanned and emotional for the musician. On the day of the crash, Winkler was supposed to drive, but the actor stopped him because he was into racing and the singer was scared, but the accident became a “horrible lesson” for him.
In 2023 social media posts, Garrett’s fans saw how he’d aged and changed. Gone were the days when he attracted people with boyish looks and charm, and his followers were heartbroken.
How Does Leif Look Now?
On March 30, 2023, author and actress Ginger Coyote shared a Facebook photo of Garrett and revealed it was what he looked like the last time she saw him. In the image, he looked different while wearing a bandana on his head, a scarf, and a jacket.
One fan who responded to the post had one sad word for his appearance, “Aww.” Another person noted how they’d had “such a crush” on the singer for the longest time but that his story tugged at their heartstrings, while someone else could only say:
“OMG.”
On March 20, 2023, another fan shared what looked like an album cover of one of Garrett’s offerings when he was still a big celebrity. The person revealed that they had his pictures on their wall in 1997.
Someone else thought what happened to him and Winkler was a “shame,” and the actor became addicted to illegal substances. The singer once confessed what made him addicted and his downfall, with the details, possibly shocking his fans.
During his 2020 interview, Garrett revealed that when he was a teenage idol, his managers lied and said he was sick from exhaustion when they were pushing for his shows to be sold-out. The musician had to feign sickness and was “living this lie.”
The goal was for him to come off as having a perfect image of what they wanted from him, but he knew it was wrong. As a young man, he also had a chance to have a musical career, but instead of starting immediately with training, his voice was processed until it barely sounded like him.
A background singer, Jim Haas, was brought in, and the person’s voice was quite prominent, and sometimes Garrett felt like they were making that person’s record and not his. The star felt like they were taking advantage of him for his looks when all he wanted to do was act.
In his book, the musician said he was forced to sing with lots of technical help and had to lip-sync on stage at concerts, which was a “horrible” experience for him. Garrett felt it was unfair to his fans who bought tickets to his shows.
“However, he [Leif Garrett] was now taking things a day at a time…”
The star lying about being a musical artist drove him to use illegal substances. The celebrity felt no one wanted to hear what he had to say as long as his records kept selling, and he’d wanted longevity as an adult artist.
The singer wanted to do other things, but his team only wanted him to be a “Tiger Beat” cover star and a California surfer boy despite not being into surf music. He tried masking many feelings because he wasn’t true to himself or decided on his career.
However, illegal substances weren’t his whole life despite having trouble with them. Garrett was “grateful” for the things he got to experience that others never would, but he wished it could’ve been a better situation.
His father passed on in 2019, and he beat himself up for it because he’d wanted to get to know him. However, he was now taking things a day at a time, and he wasn’t in jail or rehabilitation and didn’t have to self-medicate to escape the pain.
Garrett said he felt good and now played music because he loved it. However, he wasn’t in a rush to do more than that unless it was right and as real as possible.