The day before she died of an overdose, Dana Plato privately begged shock-jock Howard Stern not to submit her hair for drug testing – after boasting over the air she was drug-free.
“She said, ‘I want my hair back.’ That’s when I knew she was lying,” Stern said yesterday.
“That’s when I knew she must have been on drugs.”
The 34-year-old star of the ’70s sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” died of a drug overdose Saturday night after swallowing a mixture of Valium and the painkiller Loritab.
Her tragic death came just one day after she made an emotional appearance on Stern’s top-rated radio show, swearing her days of getting high were over forever.
When several listeners said Plato – who had battled drug addiction for years – sounded stoned, the actress, near tears, offered to submit locks of her hair to send off for testing.
Stern producer Gary Dell’Abate snipped a few hairs, and Plato bragged the results would vindicate her.
But yesterday, Stern said a dramatic tug-of-war for the hair developed moments after the show ended.
“She gave us the hair – then she said, ‘No, I want it back.’ And Gary wouldn’t give it back and it was a whole big mess,” Stern said.
Damn