Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Shannon Price Claims He Was Able to Talk in His Final Moments: ‘If I Did It, He Would’ve Said Something’
- - - Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife Shannon Price Claims He Was Able to Talk in His Final Moments: ‘If I Did It, He Would’ve Said Something’
Liza EsquibiasJuly 8, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Gary Coleman's ex-wife Shannon Price, who lived with him at the time of his death in 2010, appeared in A&E's new special, Lie Detector: Truth or Deception
Before taking a polygraph test answering questions regarding the actor's death, Price revealed new details relating to the incident
The two-hour premiere airs July 10 at 9 p.m. ET on A&E
Gary Coleman’s ex-wife is revealing new details from the night of his fatal fall.
In 2010, Shannon Price claimed she found the actor in a pool of blood after he fell following an intracranial hemorrhage in the Utah home they shared. After 15 years of speculation that she was involved, she volunteered to take a polygraph test in A&E’s upcoming docuseries Lie Detector: Truth or Deception.
“I’m here talking to you right now because I didn’t do a damn thing to him,” Price told host Tony Harris as she prepared to take the test. “I didn’t hurt him, I didn’t push him. I didn’t do any of that.”
Coleman's death was ruled accidental and Price was never charged with a crime.
A&E
Shannon PriceFor the first time, Price is sharing new details in the moments leading up to Coleman's death.
For years, it was reported that Coleman fell down the stairs of their home, but Price said that isn’t what happened.
“He never fell down the stairs — any stairs, none,” she claimed. “So this narrative about me pushing him down the stairs is just BS. I found him in the kitchen. When the police came and the EMTs came, he was still in the kitchen.”
“What I think happened was we had a kitchen island, and I think he had hit and fell,” she added.
Although she and the Diff’rent Strokes star were legally divorced, Price revealed they were still “together” and living under the same roof in the years that followed. The day of the incident, Coleman had undergone dialysis for his congenital kidney defect and “wasn’t feeling remotely good” when he returned home.
“I was upstairs, he was downstairs, that’s when I heard a big ol’ crash,” Price recalled. “So then I called his name, ‘Gary! Gary!’ And he didn't respond, and that’s when I got up and flew downstairs to find him. I obviously called 911.”
Ali Goldstein/NBCU/Getty
Shannon Price and Gary Coleman
Price has faced criticism for her behavior on that call, in which she can be heard refusing to listen to the operator’s instructions to help her former husband. Two days after being placed in a medically-induced coma, Price removed Coleman from life support.
“They were doing an investigation right in front of me,” Price noted. “That’s when they ruled out foul play. So, folks, you don’t want to believe me? They’re doing this right in front of me. They’re making sure there is no blood splattered anywhere.”
“And then he actually walks to the ambulance with assistance, he’s not on a stretcher,” she went on to allege. “They asked him clearly what happened. He said, ‘I don't know, I think I blacked out. I think I had a seizure.’ But if I did it, he would’ve said something.”
Despite suspicion from the public and many of his loved ones, Price had maintained her innocence.
“There always needs to be a bad guy, right?” she quipped. “So since I'm legally the ex-wife, guess who it falls on? Me. I was the one that was there that day that he fell. I was the only one that was in his life at that time. Nobody else was around. And everybody else that was around just wanted a piece of the pie. They didn’t care about his well-being, period. So that’s what sets me apart from everybody else. I cared about him. I loved him.”
Price ultimately did not pass the lie detector test.
Later in the two-hour special, a veteran polygraph examiner and former FBI agent asked Price if she physically caused Coleman’s fall. Price, who was hooked up to a lie detector monitor, answered “no,” but the results found “deception indicated.”
“You failed the exam regarding Gary's fall,” the examiner stated. “There's two things I know for sure, Shannon. One, you were not completely honest with me yesterday during this polygraph section. And two, the other thing I know that's 100% certain, is that there is more to this story that hasn't been told. The body never lies. The body always tells the truth. And your body on that lie detector test spoke loud and clear, there's something that caused you to fail this test.”
Still, she denied any wrongdoing: “I know where I'm at. I'm at peace. There is a reason I am not in prison. There is a legit reason for that. It's because they did a thorough investigation.”
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Lie Detector: Truth or Deception premieres July 10 at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
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Source: AOL Entertainment
