Dana Plato's Son Commits Suicide

Tyler Lambert, the son of late Diff'rent Strokes star Dana Plato, has committed suicide, nearly 11 years to the day that his mother took her own life. He was 25.

Lambert died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head last Thursday in Tulsa, Okla., his grandmother, Joni Richardson, told People. Lambert, a cameraman and amateur songwriter, had been experimenting with drugs and alcohol, Richardson said, which she thinks contributed to his death.

Calls to the Tulsa medical examiner's office were not immediately returned.

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"It's a shame that such a talented human being would do this with his life," Richardson said. "He had all the opportunities in the world and we just can't understand it. ... He was talking so sweet to me on the phone that morning. But you never can tell what's in their mind."

Plato died of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 34 on May 8, 1999. Richardson said Lambert had struggled with his mother's death, the anniversary of which falls around Mother's Day.

Lambert's body will be cremated, and no memorial is planned, Richardson said.

In addition to Richardson, Lambert is survived by his father, Larry Lambert, who was granted full custody of his son following his 1990 divorce from Plato.

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