Todd Bridges says past troubles prepared him for Celebrity Big Brother

Dalton Ross
·2 min read
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Life in the Big Brother house can be an ordeal. Cut off from the outside world and forced to live among strangers who are trying to vote you out can lead to tension, and sometimes even worse. It's something you can't necessarily prepare for. Unless your name is Todd Bridges.

Bridges was just 13 years old when he made it big playing Willis on the hit sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. But when the extraordinary eight-season run on the show came to an end in 1986, the troubles began. An addiction to drugs led Bridges to numerous brushes with the law, including an arrest and trial for attempted murder, in which Bridges was acquitted by a jury. Bridges, who has been clean since 1993, says his difficulties in the late '80s and early '90s — as painful as they were — make the unique living situation of Celebrity Big Brother seem like no big deal.

"There was a part of my life over 30 years ago where I was in a dorm situation with 300 people," Bridges tells EW. "You have to know people so you don't get into a fight, so you don't get stabbed, so you can get through every day. That's going to help me a lot."

BIG BROTHER: CELEBRITY EDITION- Todd Bridges
BIG BROTHER: CELEBRITY EDITION- Todd Bridges

Vanzil Burke/CBS Todd Bridges on 'Celebrity Big Brother'

Each of the 11 Celebrity Big Brother Houseguests has a different background they believe will give them an edge when season 3 premieres Feb. 2 on CBS. Several of them consider their reality TV past to be training for their latest venture, which is why Carson Kressley (who took part in Australia's version of I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!) points out that he "had to eat a scorpion — for reals! So if I can do that, I can do this."

Others, like Chris Kattan and Teddi Mellencamp, point to their training in social settings as a major asset. NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick believes that "living with Justin, J.C., Joey, and Lance for like 20 years of my life" is all the training he needs. And then there's Olympian Mirai Nagasu, who counts on her resilience as a figure skater: "I'm used to falling in the public eye. Like, I literally fall on my butt and have to get up and keep going."

We'll see next week whose life and career to this point best prepared them for a game that literally tells you to expect the unexpected. But until then, watch the video at the top of this post as the entire cast explains why they have the goods to survive inside the Big Brother house.

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