That ’70s Show: 10 Facts You Never Knew About Laurie Forman (& Lisa Robin Kelly)

That ’70s Show kept its comedy vibe going for almost a decade on Fox TV. Its eight seasons presented a cultural phenomenon and a view of life in the ’70s, and it became one of the most popular shows at the time, mainly for young adults and musical fans. One of the most trademarked characters of the show was Laurie Forman – a manipulative older sister who appeared to be an innocent angel to her father and a conniving devil for everyone else.

The character was brought to life through actress Lisa Robin Kelly, who in return got her career break from Laurie. With her performance as a supporting actress in the show, she received plenty of project offers and started living her Hollywood life.

10Graduate Of Goodman School Of Drama

Kelly had a happy childhood and was close to her parents – Linda Diane Grim and Thomas Kelly who gave birth to the actress in March 1970 in Southington, Connecticut. She moved to Sylvania, Ohio, to pursue her studies where she became a cheerleader for the school’s baseball team.

After finishing her schooling, she moved to California to enroll herself in an acting school. She graduated from Goodman School of Drama of DePaul University with a major in acting in 1992. She was relatively successful.

9Longest Role

Prior to her appearance on That ’70s Show, Lisa Kelly was also seen on Days of Our Lives, Married… with Children (1987) where she made her acting debut and several other well-known television series such as Murphy Brown (1988), The X-Files (1993), Sisters (1991), and Silk Stalkings (1991). However, Kelly’s five-year portrayal of Laurie Forman was the longest ongoing role of her career. Her biggest movie roles were in Jawbreaker and Amityville: Dollhouse. Because of drug and alcohol abuse, she was fired from That ’70s Show, but was allowed to return for several episodes but was then replaced by another actress.

8Laurie 1! Laurie 2!

In the first half of the show’s third season, despite being one of the popular characters, Laurie’s character suddenly disappeared. As a way of explaining her absence, it was said that her character had been accepted and was attending a beauty school. At the time, some sources claim that she left the show for personal reasons, while others believed that she was fired. Midway of its fifth season, Laurie was brought back to the screen for several appearances. Then in season 6, she was replaced by Christina Moore. Subsequently, Kelly was never seen on the big screen not until in 2005 when she had a film The Food Chain: A Hollywood Scarytale

7Left The Show Due To Personal Problems

Lisa Kelly admitted that the reason she left the show was that she had developed a drinking problem while dealing with post-miscarriage depression. In Kelly’s interview with ABC News in 2012, she admitted that she burned her bridges on the series, and claimed her drinking problem was the result of her failed pregnancy. “I had lost a baby, and as a result of that, I lost everything,” she told ABC in 2012. “I was abusing alcohol, which I no longer do,” she said. It has also been highly speculated that she was not dealing with the accompanying fame and constant microscope that the series brought with it.

6In Handcuffs

Kelly got her first criminal record in August 2010 where she was arrested in North Carolina after being pulled over by police for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. She was given probation of 12 months. However, on March 31, 2012, she was arrested on charges of felony injury of a spouse. Her mug shot from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department became a sensation.

She was released upon a bail of $50,000. Then in November 2012 she and her husband, Robert Gilliam, were arrested in Mooresville, North Carolina, on reports of a disturbance at their home and both were charged for assault. On June 23, 2013, she was again arrested on suspicion of DUI and was released after $5,000 bail.

5Forman And Kelly’s Opposing Love Life

Laurie Foreman appeared to be a well-groomed character who had no trouble getting a date, which is an exact opposite of Kelly’s romantic life. In November 2010, Kelly who was then 42-years old got married to Robert Joseph Gilliam a 61-year-old. Gilliam and Kelly had a rocky relationship history – even ending up at the point where they were both charged for assault. The dispute that brought the assault charges was apparently over money. Desperate to end her tumultuous marriage, Kelly filed for a restraining order against her husband, as well as filing for divorce for her marriage to Gilliam, stating irreconcilable differences.

4Initial Cause Of Death Unknown

Like Laurie from the show, Lisa Kelly left with not much of an explanation. On August 15, 2013, after entering a rehabilitation facility, Kelly was found dead, apparently having died in her sleep. She was 43 years old. The coroner’s initial examination was unable to conclusively figure out the cause of death. However, authorities immediately launched an investigation into the death because the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office never received a call about the death. He learned about it through a co-worker who had seen the news on TMZ. The doctor on-site at the rehab facility reported the time of death as 8:07 a.m., caused by an embolism. However, it is impossible to know that without an autopsy or other equipment.

3Late Autopsy Result

It was on January 3, 2014, Kelly’s autopsy results were released, almost 5 months after her death. Although 5 months is a long time, it is not unusual for a cause of death in this kind of situation to take a lot of time. When the cause of death is not obvious, other methods such as complicated toxicology tests. The Los Angeles Coroner’s investigation found that after all of the autopsy tests were concluded, it was determined that Kelly died from accidental multiple drug intoxication. The death was ruled an accident and clarified that the fatal combination of drugs had been ingested. The exact combination of drugs was not listed.

2The Rehab Center Killed My Wife, Ex-Husband Said

In an interview with Celebuzz, a day after the death of Kelly, Gilliam said that “She was a person who had great talent, lost a baby and there was a marriage break-up. And she lost the show. Something broke inside of her and she couldn’t cope.” Despite the fact that Kelly and her husband had a highly volatile relationship involving alcohol abuse, assault, fighting, and were actually divorced, her ex-husband, Robert Gilliam filed a wrongful death case against Pax House in June 2014. This is the rehab center where Kelly died. He filed the suit against the rehab center and its operators with the Superior Court in Los Angeles for their negligence and second-rate treatment of Kelly.

1Blame And Guilt

In the lawsuit against the rehab facility, it was claimed that the facility was guilty of contributing to Kelly’s death due to negligence. It was stated in the filing that “she was neglected for” an unreasonable amount of time.” The claim went on to say that Gilliam, “sustained damages, resulting from loss of love, affection, society, comfort, support and counseling, companionship, solace, and mental support.” In September 2014, Gilliam’s attorney announced that the suit had been settled out of court, but he did not reveal any of the details. In addition, Gilliam also blamed Kelly’s boyfriend at the time she passed for being part of the cause of Kelly’s death.