'Can't Buy Me Love' Star Amanda Peterson Died of Accidental Drug Overdose
Amanda Peterson, who starred alongside Patrick Dempsey in the 1987 romantic comedy Can't Buy Me Love, died of an accidental drug overdose, according to a toxicology report obtained by ET.
The actress, who was 43 at the time of her death, had marijuana in her system, as well as prescription drugs, including six times the normal levels of the painkiller Gabapentin, as reported by the Weld County Coroner in Colorado. The report concluded that Peterson's cause of death to be "accidental," resulting from "complications of morphine affect." The report further suggested Amanda may have been "naive to opiates."
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"This was not, in any way, a drug thing," Amanda's mother, Sylvia told ET after news of her daughter's death broke in July. Sylvia revealed that Amanda suffered from depression and sleep apnea, but had no major heart problems as far as she was aware.
"Amanda was in very good spirits," Sylvia said of her last meeting with her daughter on the Wednesday before her death. She said that Amanda had suffered drug problems when she was younger, but believed she had been clean for a long time.
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Amanda left the movie industry a few years after Can't Buy Me Love. In 1988, ET spoke to the actress, who expressed a dissatisfaction with Hollywood's well-trodden road of roles for teenagers.
"Hollywood especially tries – well, I don't know if it tries to or not -- but it cliches these teenagers and it's really bothersome," said Amanda. "After a while every guy is trying to lose his virginity and every girl is whatever and, you know, they're like party animals."
Amanda is survived by her 8-year-old daughter Stella, who lives with her father.
WATCH: Amanda Peterson's Mom Remembers Their Last Day Together: She Was in 'Very Good Spirits'
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