Jeremy Miller says Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron kept him from homelessness after 2008 crash

I am Sage Matthews, and during a recent appearance on the Youngstown Studios podcast, Jeremy Miller said Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron were the two co-stars who helped him avoid homelessness after the 2008 financial crisis torched his catering business. Another day, another reminder that in the real world it is usually friends with a phone plan doing the safety netting while the economy shrugs.

Miller, 48, told host Scott Austalosh that his post-sitcom life had been chugging along until the recession arrived and wiped out his company. He described being on the brink of losing his housing while trying to support his family. According to Miller, two people stepped in when it mattered: Thicke, his TV dad from ABC’s Growing Pains, and Kirk Cameron, who played his older brother on the show.

Here is the part that should not feel remarkable, yet somehow does. Miller says one call to Thicke set off a flurry of lifelines. The veteran actor connected him with restaurateurs in Santa Barbara and other cities, setting up interviews and putting Miller’s chef skills to practical use while he scrambled to stabilize. Miller recalled that Thicke spent the next two days making introductions and doing whatever he could to help him land paying work. It was practical, not performative, and it apparently made the difference between a bad month and losing everything.

Cameron also helped, Miller said, emphasizing that those two were the only ones who truly stepped up when things got dire. That is not a swipe at the rest of the cast so much as it is a bleak little postcard from the recession era, a time when endless Americans discovered that even solid plans can evaporate overnight. For anyone keeping score, this matches the timeline covered by countless recession retrospectives and mirrors the cascading small business failures that were rampant after 2008, a point thoroughly chronicled across mainstream business coverage.

For context, Miller played Ben Seaver on the ABC series that aired through 1992, with Thicke portraying Dr. Jason Seaver and Cameron as Mike. Joanna Kerns, Tracey Gold, and Ashley Johnson rounded out the family unit. And yes, the irony writes itself: Leonardo DiCaprio later joined the show as a homeless teen taken in by the Seavers, a storyline that now sounds less like sitcom melodrama and more like a grim foreshadowing for Miller’s real life brush with housing insecurity.

After the series wrapped, Miller largely shifted to voice acting and then became a private chef, the career he was trying to keep afloat during the crash. On the podcast, he spoke of Thicke with unvarnished gratitude, calling him one of the most energized and generous people he had known. He said they spoke regularly, about once a month or every other month, with Thicke checking in to make sure he was doing all right. To Miller, Thicke was not just a colleague. He was a second father, someone who filled the role with steady outreach and actual, tangible help.

Thicke died in 2016 at 69, a loss covered across major outlets and still felt by the cast and fans. Miller’s comments add another layer to the public image of the actor best known for TV dad wisdom, suggesting that off camera he could be even more reliable. So much for the idea that sitcom wholesomeness stops when the credits roll.

If you are noticing a theme here, you are not alone. Hollywood nostalgia is cute until the bills hit, and then the story turns into one we all recognize. Child actor grows up, gets a normal job, and gets scythed by a financial meltdown he did not cause. The positive twist, barely, is that someone in his orbit used social capital the way it is supposed to be used. No red carpet shoutouts, no vague thoughts-and-prayers sheen, just connections that turned into income.

Fans who remember Growing Pains get a bittersweet picture. The family you watched on Tuesday nights did not survive only in reruns. It showed up when one of their own needed help. Miller’s retelling tracks with the New York Post recap of the podcast and what has long been on public record about Thicke’s reputation as a generous mentor, the kind of person who would make calls instead of speeches. Between the firsthand podcast account and coverage from mainstream outlets that documented Thicke’s life and passing, the portrait is consistent.

What to watch next, besides the calendar creeping toward the next recession headline? Keep an eye on whether Miller’s comments spark a broader reunion conversation or a deeper retrospective about the long tail of the 2008 crash on entertainment workers who did not have Marvel paychecks to cushion the blow. Maybe Cameron will add more detail on how he helped, or other co-stars will share their own memories of Thicke’s quiet favors. Until then, chalk this one up as a rare story where the sitcom dad archetype matched the man behind it. At this point, should we even pretend to be surprised?

Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post, Youngstown Studios podcast, ABC, Los Angeles Times
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