Erin Moran: Tragic ‘Happy Days’ Star Drank Herself To Death

Erin Moran  — the bitter, rejected child star of the '70s TV sitcom staple "Happy Days" —   drank herself to death to escape torturous throat cancer treatments!

The former "Happy Days" actress was pronounced dead in the ramshackle Corydon, Ind., trailer park home she shared with husband Steve Fleischmann and his mother, Donna Woods, on April 22.

“Erin was suicidal,” The National ENQUIRER has learned from a longtime trailer-park pal. “She was more than ready to die. The last thing she wanted to face was a long cancer battle. So she just drowned her sorrows in booze!” Erin, who believed Hollywood had coldly turned its back on her, also drank to cope with her failed acting career. “She was bitter about Hollywood and the way it treated her, and it made her drink more,” says pal David Basham.

While the Harrison County Coroner’s Office says she “likely succumbed to complications from stage-4 throat cancer,” friends and medical experts believe it was her drinking that hastened the end. "Certain types of cancer are influenced by bad lifestyle choices,” says renowned New York internist Dr. Stuart Fischer, who had not treated Erin. “Alcoholism can spur a wide variety of illnesses.” In fact, the throat cancer Erin suffered has been linked to alcohol abuse by the American Cancer Society.

Erin’s history of alcohol abuse is well documented. After her "Happy Days" spin-off, "Joanie Loves Chachi," was canceled in 1983, Erin’s career stalled and she struggled with depression. She married Steve, 49, her second husband, in 1993. The couple hit rock bottom after they lost their Palmdale, Calif., home in 2010.

After spending their way through a $65,000 settlement she got from a suit over "Happy Days" merchandise revenue, they landed in her mother-in- law’s Indiana trailer, sources reveal. “They drank a lot, and drink is a horrible thing,” says David, who still lives in Palmdale but spoke to Steve about Erin’s throat cancer prognosis. “I’m sure the complications of alcohol killed her.” Thoughts of ending it all were nothing new to Erin. “I’d thought of suicide many times while driving up Mulholland Drive,” she told The ENQUIRER in 1988.