‘Diff’rent Strokes’ Star Todd Bridges on Meeting Michael Jackson & the Big Surprise He Got From Redd Foxx

We may still know him best as Willis, big brother extraordinaire to Gary Coleman’s Arnold Drummond on the hit sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, but Todd Bridges’ journey goes way beyond one TV show. With memorable appearances on The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, and the groundbreaking mini-series Roots, Bridges, 59, is widely regarded as the first African-American child actor ever to appear in a recurring role on a popular television program, rubbing shoulders with plenty of Hollywood heavyweights along the way.

These days, Todd and his wife Bettijo Bridges host Dang, a raw and revealing podcast where they chat about mental health, life’s ups and down, and how to find happiness in the best and worst of times. For this interview, we turned the microphone on Todd and chatted with him about the things that made him happy growing up.