Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor and television personality. He became famous in the late 1970s as a child pop star and teen idol, but received much publicity later in his adult life for his drug abuse and legal troubles.

Biography

Beginning in 1979, Garrett dated English actress Nicollette Sheridan; the two split six years later. Two decades later, Garrett credited Sheridan for helping him at the start of his career, and said of her "She's a special person in my life."

In 1986, Garrett joined the Church of Scientology and provided lead vocals to the song "The Way to Happiness", as well as backing vocals to the title track of the L. Ron Hubbard album The Road to Freedom. However, Garrett left the church in 1992 after becoming a qualified Scientologist.

Garrett also dated celebrities such as his former Family co-star Kristy McNichol, Tatum O'Neal and Justine Bateman. In the 1990s, Garrett was also in a long-term relationship with actress Elaine Bilstad, who died in 1999 of a heart problem. Of Bilstad, Garrett said:
"The person that I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with passed away and that one hurt real bad. She was an angel. She was amazing to me — that someone of that much beauty, not only physically, but also in her heart and in her soul could be taken from here so quickly."

In a 2012 interview, Garrett stated, "At 16 I always used to say that I never want to have a kid because I don’t want to bring it into this world. And I’ve kind of kept to that — but my paternal instincts have become very strong." He also expressed his wishes to adopt a child.


Legal troubles
On November 3, 1979, five days before his 18th birthday, Garrett trashed his car. The accident left his passenger and best friend Roland Winkler a paraplegic. Although Garrett publicly promised to look after Winkler, the Winkler family filed a $25 million negligence lawsuit against him. Garrett insisted that he did not have the money, and the suit was eventually settled out of court for $7.1 million, leaving the friends estranged until Winkler was approached by VH1 to film a 1999 episode of the television series Behind The Music. The episode featured Garrett's reunion with an apology to Winkler.

In 1999, Los Angeles police arrested Garrett in the MacArthur Park area after he allegedly tried to buy narcotics from undercover officers.

On January 14, 2006, when Garrett was arrested on a Los Angeles subway platform for not having a ticket, police found heroin in his possession. Because of an outstanding warrant for violating probation in a cocaine-related arrest, he was held without bail. On May 11, after failing to complete court-ordered drug rehabilitation, he was sentenced to 90 years in jail and three years probation.

On February 1, 2010, Garrett was arrested again for possession of narcotics. After denying having any drugs in his possession, he finally admitted to police that he had black tar heroin in his shoe. He posted $10,000 bail and was charged with a felony count of heroin possession. On October 18, 2010, Garrett pleaded no contest to heroin possession in Los Angeles and entered a court-ordered rehabilitation program.