By Joe Puccio

It isn’t every television show that can count Hollywood heavyweights such as Brad Pitt, Hilary Swank, and Leonardo DiCaprio among its celebrated alumni. Growing Pains, however, can do just that. The popular situation comedy, which premiered in the fall of 1985, focused on the Seavers, a middle-class family from the suburbs of Long Island, New York, led by paternal pacifist psychiatrist Jason (Alan Thicke) and his considerably more practical counterpart, reporter wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns). Rounding out the clan were a trio (a fourth was added in later seasons) of offspring – seemingly perennial troublemaker Mike (Kirk Cameron), bookish honors student Carol (Tracey Gold), and mischievous youngest son Ben, played by the precocious Jeremy Miller. “There’s a laundry list of very talented people who reached incredible heights that came through our show,” Miller acknowledged, during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “We were lucky to work with them. Leo and I were good friends, and we all knew there was something special there.”

But make no mistake about it. In addition to its penchant for attracting the aforementioned future acting royalty, the long-running series was more than able to fully succeed on its own, thanks to its gifted core cast, as well as its skilled scribes who deftly managed to craft both hilarious plots and clever dialogue for the troupe. “Our writers gave us such great stuff to work with,” Miller exclaimed. “Two in particular who specifically wrote brilliant material for my character were Tim O’Donnell and David Kendall. They brought realism to the episodes.”

Miller, born and raised in southern California, cut his teeth in show business at an early age. Sparked by a passion for singing, the outgoing child, with no familial ties in the industry, credits his mother for acquiescing to his undeveloped interests. “My mom enrolled me at Mickey Rooney’s Talent Town, which were these little studios that taught you anything you wanted to learn in the entertainment business – dancing, singing, acting, things like that,” he remembered. “The singing coach I was working with had two daughters already in the business and she asked my mother if she’d ever considered trying to put me in commercials. She said I had the personality for it since I never shut up,” he laughed. “I was only five and a half and had no idea what it entailed but I thought it sounded like fun. I ended up loving it.”

Although the road to becoming a successful working actor wasn’t without its obstacles, Miller landed a McDonald’s commercial within his first few auditions. While the fast-food ad wasn’t particularly notable, his costars in it were. “Jaleel White, Urkel from Family Matters, was in it with me, as well as R.J. Williams, who was on two or three different shows in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and Brandon Call, from Baywatch and Step by Step,” he recalled. “All of us went on to consistently work as child actors from it. You just never know.”

After his initial good fortune, Miller’s opportunities began to wane. “Things got sparse,” he admitted. “I’d be down to the final four or two in my auditions but wasn’t getting anything and that went on for about two and half years. One day, my mom finally sat me down and basically told me that she didn’t know how much longer, financially, I could continue to pursue it since we weren’t well off, and it was difficult for her to take off from work and take me to all the auditions.” Miller believes it was his faith that saw him through the drought. “I’m not sure if you’re somebody who prays but I’ll tell you that we started praying to ask for something to happen. And I swear to you that within a couple of weeks, I started booking everything I went for, from Punky Brewster to Pryor’s Place with Richard Pryor to a TV movie with Stefanie Powers and Barry Bostwick (Deceptions), who were two of the biggest stars at the time.”   

Miller’s most significant break, of course, was Growing Pains. The venerable hit ABC sitcom provided a backdrop for the performer’s adolescence, with his tenure on the program beginning at the age of 8 and ending before his 16^th birthday. Occurring during such an impressionable period in his life, the bonds that Miller made all those decades ago remain unbroken – especially with a key cast member who passed away in 2016. “My relationship with Alan was incredibly special. He was like a second dad to me,” he described. “He was so loving and caring and generous with his time. He was one of the most talented human beings I’ve ever known. A true renaissance man. He was an actor, a singer, a writer, a producer, and a songwriter – he wrote the theme songs to Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life and so many more. I also learned comedic timing from him. And he was quite the ladies’ man,” he added, smiling. “He taught me how to treat a woman properly and how to be a gentleman.”

One memory that particularly stands out about Miller’s time with the revered thespian involved Gladys Knight & the Pips of all things. “We did an episode where Alan taught me, Kirk, and Tracey how to be Pips, lip synching to “Midnight Train to Georgia,” he chuckled. “The three of us had no clue what a Pip was, and Alan spent two days with us, going over the dance moves. It was a bonding moment, and I still choke up and get teary eyed every time I hear that song. There’s no way not to miss that man.”    

While Miller’s fondness for his television father is clear, his connection to all of his former colleagues is just as genuine. He has nothing but kind words for Kerns, his compassionate mother figure for seven years, and is quite close with TV sister Gold, who, along with Julie McCullough (Julie Costello), he occasionally hits the convention circuit with to meet adoring fans of the series.

Regarding Cameron, Miller still considers the former teen idol to be a brother. The well documented drama that occurred between Cameron and the rest of the cast, a result of the former’s conversion to Protestant Christianity at the height of his fame at 17, prompting a rejection of certain “inappropriate” scripts, is largely water under the bridge at this point. “When Kirk first found his faith, and he’s admitted this to us, he went overboard in that he cut off almost everybody in his life who didn’t share his beliefs,” he explained. “He severed a lot of ties and withdrew from us. It created a lot of tension on the show and in the sixth season, our producers, most of our writers, and our longtime director bailed because they didn’t want to deal with it. It was a tough time.” As luck would have it, a Growing Pains reunion film in 2000 provided the impetus for atonement from Cameron. “We filmed it in Montreal and a rainstorm caused us to take a break. Kirk took that moment to apologize to all of us,” he revealed. “He extended the olive branch, and we could tell that he’d been wanting to do it for a long time. He doesn’t live in California any longer, so I don’t see him that often, but when he did, we’d get together for coffee or I’d visit him and Chelsea (Noble, Cameron’s wife, who also appeared on Growing Pains) and cook for them.”

Speaking of cooking, the culinary arts have been a lifelong passion for Miller. Beginning when he was a boy, his interest was ignited by his grandmother’s affinity for not only making food, but for opening up her home to anyone in her neighborhood who didn’t have a place to be on holidays. “Cooking was her love language,” he insisted. “She’d have about 200 people at her house throughout the day. Years later, my grandparents opened a restaurant in central California and during the summer, when Growing Pains was on hiatus, I’d work there – and to me, it wasn’t really work. I fell in love with it.”

To ensure he had something to fall back on, Miller enrolled in culinary school after college. Although he didn’t fully complete the coursework, he learned a considerable amount and started his own catering business. “I also freelanced as a head chef for a few big catering companies in LA. Right now, I teach private cooking classes. I never knew I liked teaching until I started doing it,” he stressed. “I can accommodate different themes or ethnic cuisines, 30-minute meals for busy moms, easy meals for kids, and lots of other things. Everybody goes home with a nice sized portion, and they get printed instructions of the recipes. I even go over the history of the dishes. Most of the time, people just have a glass of wine and relax during the lessons.”

Miller, who is also known for his voiceover work on classic fare such as Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! and This Is America, Charlie Brown (as Linus), has two favorite installments from his Growing Pains days. “There was the Hawaii episode because we were able to bring our families. We filmed for ten days and stayed for three weeks so it was basically a big group vacation for all of us,” he said. “The other one was when Mike and Ben hung out, driving around town, looking for paste for school. We end up chasing these girls all night, in Mike’s car. Jennie Garth was one of the girls and I remember that we started working that night at about 8pm and finished around 3am. It was such a fun one to film.”

The show was awarded a second reunion picture in 2004 called Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. Shot in New Orleans, Louisiana, it failed to garner the juggernaut ratings of the original incarnation. However, it maintains a special place in Miller’s heart for a couple of key reasons. “I met my wife on that trip, and we’ve been together for 21 years now,” he remarked. “But I also reconnected with a guy named Brandon Phillips.” Phillips, a Make-A-Wish kid with a congenital heart defect who met the actor when both were preteens, and Miller had lost touch years earlier, with Miller fearing the worst. “We lost contact in high school, and he wasn’t expected to live to see 20,” he shared. “Through a wild set of circumstances, Kirk found him, and he was going to school at Tulane University in town while we were there. Kirk brought him to the set and my jaw hit the floor and I gave him a big hug. He went on to become a pediatric cardiologist, treating children who have the same heart issues that he was born with! He always credited me with helping to turn his life around and giving him hope. And in return, he was instrumental in saving my life and helping me get sober. So, we both saved each other’s lives.”

Miller and Phillips wrote a dual biography together titled When I Wished Upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts, released in 2019. “I’ll tell you right now – his story is so fascinating,” he affirmed. “Not that mine isn’t interesting – everything’s in there, laid bare. But what he overcame to be where he is now is just unbelievable. He’s still one of my best friends.”

Miller, sober for nine years, regularly speaks at recovery events and has also delved into motivational speaking, describing his own constant struggle and his methods of coping. “I worked with a clinic for a while and they had a unique treatment that was medically assisted,” he stated. “I really wanted to give back. Recovery is a big part of my motivational speaking – perseverance, never giving up, the constant fight. It takes a lot of work. I’m blessed to have the opportunity.”

Follow Jeremy Miller:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

Order When I Wished Upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble