Well, I was honestly shaken up by the third of the celebrity death trilogy — first Brittany Murphy, then “Boner” from Growing Pains, and then, Corey Haim.

I was just a little too young to idolize Corey in his heyday. I was more the Jonathon Taylor Thomas to Leonardo DiCaprio generation.

I learned about Corey after the fact — on his E! True Hollywood Story. (As for Corey #2, Corey Feldman, I learned more than I needed to know about on The Surreal Life… what a douche!)

Now, I love me a good E! True Hollywood Story, the more tragic and drug-addled, the better. Dana Plato, Todd Bridges, Jenna Jameson, Heidi Fleiss, and one of the best in my opinion, the Corey Haim story.

So, Corey Haim was addicted to errrrrthing. I mean, uppers, crack, downers, alcohol, etc. etc. But it seemed that in the end it was the downers that got him. In every interview during the E! True Hollywood Story, he was a total McSlurry. I remember the saddest scene of all, among many, many sad scenes, was him at Venice Beach saying, nay slurring from all the downers, that he’s hoping to make a comeback in Hollywood, and then go on to win an Academy Award. I mean, this is a guy who hadn’t made a Lifetime movie in years. The garishness of him being in Venice Beach (by then not the cool place it had been in the 80s), the stark contrast between reality and Haim’s perception of it, and the quiet desperation… it was worse than the security cam footage of him pawning his entire life for like $4.

I decided, in 2005, 20 years after his heyday, that I was really rooting for him to make that comeback. If not win the Oscar, to at least be a main character on Law and Order. I made him my MySpace wallpaper. I watched his movies, even License to Drive, which was really, really bad, and not even so bad it’s good. And then he gets a reality show, which I probably would have watched if not for the aforementioned dislike of Corey Feldman.

Other drug addicts and various crazies have made it back from the edge — hello, Robert Downey, Jr. went from rehab and jail to a supporting role to Ally McBeal to mainstream movie stardom. I would even say he’s one of the most successful actors in Hollywood. He’s got indie cred AND Iron Man leading star power. And Mickey Rourke, who, people called a sex symbol (I strongly disagree, even after watching 9 1/2 Weeks) is now a lauded actor, despite being incredibly hard to look at. He was even nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his work in The Wrestler.

Why not Corey? Why couldn’t he go to Promises and start doing yoga and give charmingly self-deprecating interviews about his past as a child star-cum-addict-cum-serious actor? He was precocious and driven and a teen idol, yes, but with real talent. I’m not saying his death came as a shock — prescription drugs seem to be the main cause of celeb death, both then and now — and I can’t quite say why his death makes me sadder than, say, Brittany Murphy’s did.

Is there some personal connection there… or is it just that I’ve never seen Brittany Murphy’s E! True Hollywood Story?

• The Telly