Dating Corey Haim: "My First Major Heartbreak"

Lala Sloatman co-starred with Corey Haim in The Watchers and Dream A Little Dream, and they dated for two years at the peak of his fame. Here’s what Sloatman tells us about that heady time.

“I was seventeen when I met Corey,” Sloatman said today. (We’ve been tracking down some of Haim’s lady co-stars for their recollections.) “There was a nightclub for underaged actors at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel that was called Alfie’s Soda Pop Club. I met him there – it was like, Alyssa Milano, Nicole Eggert, and Corey was there.”

“He was so funny and jovial -– we got along really well and laughed a lot and played a lot. He was super spontaneous and had an appetite to do anything at the drop of a hat. Almost to a fault in terms of purchasing things. He would buy a new car out of nowhere. We would do laser tag and paintball.

“He was my first boyfriend. I was mad for him. I was crazy about him. We met and started seeing each other right when Lost Boys was coming out and he was about to start License to Drive. I had actually met Corey Feldman outside of Corey Haim, under really weird circumstances – we were both going to court to get emancipated from our parents, and he asked me if I would testify for him. He was there with his next director, Marc Rocco, who directed Dream a Little Dream. He let me read for the movie and I got a part in it.

“It was down to the silliest things. The way his body moved, when he would joke around or dance. It was the age of Tiger Beat and Bop, all those magazines. I was so insecure. I felt like it was me against every other girl in the world. Everybody was mad for him. I’d go into the market, go to the newsstand, and obsess. I think it was a freedom I felt with him to be myself and to laugh and just be free. I felt like he was part of my tribe.

“We were dramatic. We were breaking up constantly. I like, parked outside an apartment he had with his mom in Studio City when he wouldn’t return my calls. He’d disappear nine days in a time. I found out later what was going on with him. He was getting into drugs. It was so heartbreaking. My first major heartbreak.”

The two dated on and off for about two years, and then stayed in contact only a little. Sloatman herself is a recovered addict in AA, so when she saw him a few years ago out in L.A., she said she tried to help him find a meeting. “And that’s the last time I ever heard from him.”

Update: About the photo above, Lala says, “I haven’t worn red since 1987.” As for Haim’s hair, she says he loved to dye it different colors. “Once he called and said, ‘I have a surprise for you. Meet me.’ When I got there his hair was platinum with an electric blue streak in the front. I cried and told him to go right back and fix it immediately.”