Barney documentary jaw-droppers: 5 things we learned from Peacock's I Love You, You Hate Me

It seems that for every toddler who adored Barney & Friends, there was an older grinch who couldn't stand the big purple dinosaur — and some who even did him physical harm.

"Barney is so impossibly wholesome, there is that desire to pop the balloon," original Blues Clues star Steve Burns says in the new two-part documentary I Love You, You Hate Me, which chronicles the rise of the kids' programming juggernaut and the tragic tale that unfolded for those behind the scenes.

The full documentary is now available on Peacock, but here are just a few highlights from the surprisingly dark true story.

No, the actor playing Barney did not commit suicide in the suit (or at all)...

First things first: Since the truth is just as surprising, let's dispel all the incorrect Barney rumors before digging into the facts. The documentary proves and/or asserts that, no, the actor playing Barney did not hide drugs in his tail, do drugs in between scenes, or hang himself in his suit.

"My mom called me once crying," says David Joyner, who embodied the purple dinosaur on the series from 1991 to 2001. "I was like, 'Mom, what's going on?' And she was like, 'Baby, I just heard you committed suicide!'"

Also, the Barney theme song played backwards provided no secret message, and Barney was not the leader of children's cult, the antichrist, or a predator... that last one is maybe an understandable assumption, given he was modeled after a Tyrannosaurus rex (and, in one early iteration, Bruce Willis' Moonlighting character!).

... But he did open a tantric sex business

"I figured, 'After 10 years, I've done Barney, I've always wanted to move to Los Angeles to do other acting,'" Joyner says of moving from Barney's production hub in Texas. Roles on everything from That's So Raven to The Young and the Restless followed, as did a career as a tantric energy healer.

"I help goddesses reconnect with their sexual energy on a spiritual level," explains the actor, who was studying "white lotus" tantra in 1990 when he got cast as Barney. As part of his contract, he was asked to sign a document saying he would not teach or speak about tantra while employed on the series.

As for what his work as a healer entails, Joyner says his fees cover energy work, massage, and meditation — "anything beyond that, there's no extra fee." When asked point blank if he has sex with his clients, Joyner replies, "Not necessarily. Not all the clients have a full session."

Peacock Peacock's 'I Hate You, You Hate Me'

Entering high school was rough for the former Barney cast

"Kids would call me 'Barney lover.' And they would come up to me and say [that] Barney must have molested us or something. I'd get that all the time — all the time," says Hope Cervantes, who played Tosha from 1992 to '96. "And it was painful, given my history of actually going through that. It stung," she continues. "I did turn to drugs and alcohol to cope, to deal."

"I didn't want to be known as 'the Barney girl'...so instead I took to bad habits" says Leah Montes, who played Lucy from '88 to '92. "If you wanted to have a drink, yeah, I will have a drink with you — or a smoke.... I'd rather be known for that."

Rickey Carter, who played Derek from '90 to '95, joined a gang. "When I left Barney, the streets were calling, and I answered," he says. "It got a little rough — it got real rough," he says of a friend mugging him at gunpoint in 2004. Carter attempted to run and was shot in the spine, becoming paralyzed. After a year of rehab, he defied his doctor's belief he'd never walk again. "It was a miracle," Carter says.

"Barney Bashing" was real — and scary

In 1993, three boys (aged 10, 11, and 12) attacked a man dressed up as Barney at a Texas shopping mall. You Hate Me also tells of a man arrested for assault and battery "against Barney," a father who started an anti-Barney newsletter, and a group of college students who organized events all about destroying Barney products.

The threat of physical harm extended to those working on the series as well, with Barney creator Sheryl Leach fearful of what might happen to her son, Patrick. Lori Wendt, who babysat Patrick, says Leach "did make it clear: just don't let him out of your sight because of the level of hatred towards Barney."

Bob Singelton, who composed the Barney theme song, recalls a radio interview he did where listeners called in and said things like "Man, I'd just love to get my fingers around that guy's neck." "I was surprised that they felt like they wanted to do me physical harm," says the musician, who unlisted his phone number. "I got actual death and dismemberment of my family emails.... That was a terrible time."

Bob West, who voiced Barney from 1992 to 2000, says he would get emails, "mostly from middle school kids," that were "absolutely hateful. They were very explicit and very violent. One of them asked, 'Are you the Barney that I stabbed and shot outside of New Orleans?' They went on to say that they were going to find me and kill me."

Things reached a tipping point when Ted Giannoulas, the creator of the sports mascot known as the San Diego Chicken, began beating up a Barney look-a-like as part of his on-field act. A cease and desist letter was followed by a lawsuit asking for $100,000 in copyright damages for each time Barney's likeness was used in one of Giannoulas' skits. "They maintained that little kids were too young to understand that this wasn't the real Barney — as if there was a real Barney," deadpans Ken Fitzgerald, who served as Giannoulas' lawyer. (Ultimately the skits were found to qualify as "parody." The suit was dismissed for lack of merit, and Leach had to pay all of Giannoulas' attorney fees.)

Mark Perlstein/Getty Images Barney, the purple dinosaur

There was a "Jihad to Destroy Barney" — but it's not as bad as you might imagine

A cease and desist was also sent to those behind The Jihad to Destroy Barney, a collaborative roleplay session where players pretended to be supersoldiers fighting a shadow war against the purple dinosaur.

Sean Breen, the final leader of the now disbanded organization, was a sophomore in college when he found the Jihad webpage, which he says was one of the first 15,000 websites on the internet. "It was a movement started by college students who found Barney very, very annoying," he explains.

The cease and desist was never followed up with a lawsuit, with Stephen White, the head writer for Barney from 1991 to 2005, calling the Barney team's lawyers "feckless."

Barney creator Sheryl Leach's marriage fell apart as the show succeeded

"The lawsuits basically turned Barney into just another joke, and after all the years of Barney bashing, threats, and lawsuits, it really was like a slap in the face for Sheryl. She'd spent so much time and energy building this character, and I think it was starting to take a toll on her, " says Andrew Olsen, founder of Barney History Fans. "I think all of that had to be rough on her marriage to Jim."

"I think the success of Barney probably did change the family dynamics," family friend Wendt adds of the couple, who ultimately separated in 1997.

In 1998, Leach decided to leave the show to spend more time with her son, who had developed a benign brain tumor that required surgery. She moved them to Turks and Caicos, opening a restaurant that Patrick worked at for a few years.

The Leaches' divorce was finalized in 2001. Shortly after, Jim committed suicide. "Talk about your heart going out to both Sheryl and Patrick," says Sloan Coleman, who serves as SVP of Barney events. "It was beyond what anybody could ever think would happen."

Patrick Leach was arrested for shooting his neighbor

"When I first heard about the case, I wondered what led the son of the creator of somebody who is supposed to be all love and non-violence — would lead this person to shoot his neighbor," Brenda Lee, a Los Angeles County prosecutor who details in I Hate You a 2013 altercation in which Patrick Leach drove to his neighbor Erick Shanks' home, accused him of trespassing earlier that day, and shot him.

Shanks was shot in the chest, but survived thanks to the help of a good samaritan who found him bleeding out in the driveway of his Malibu home. Authorities assert that Leach — who was 27 at the time and living with his fiancée and two kids — had an ongoing tense relationship with Shanks. Police pursued Leach in his vehicle, eventually apprehending him, noting that he was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of his arrest.

Leach ultimately pled no contest to assault with a deadly weapon. In 2015, he was sentenced to state prison for 15 years, though the governor of California ultimately commuted his sentence and Leach was released after serving just five years. (In the commutation process, Leach's legal team asserted he was "addicted" to marijuana as a coping mechanism, which led to increased paranoia. "It distorted his reality," says Charles Mittelstadt, who served as a criminal defense investigator on the matter.)

Sheryl's colleague Coleman says Patrick was a "child that was raised with basically anything he ever wanted, but there were a lot of hidden dark pasts that followed him."

"I think that the fact that she created Barney probably gave them a lot financially," says family friend Wendt. "But there's a good and bad with everything."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Famous dinosaurs, ranked from least to most scary

• EW visits the set of Barney

• Would Barney survive in The Lost World?