"I've seen the top, I've seen the bottom, I know what both extremes are like. These days, Oliver works in tech support and couldn't be happier. I work my ass off, I have a 9-5, a normal existence. "I started to realize that I want a normal life. I was kinda done with it anyway," he says now. "I think it was a mutual breakup between me and the industry. He left his acting career behind around the same time. It was a good couple years that we were completely busted up." "We ended up staying with friends for a while, slowly dusted ourselves up. "After all that, after the impact on morale that that left our family with, everything took a downturn," Oliver told Gottfried. Damn shame."Ī bitter contract dispute over "Problem Child 2" left his family without anything, something he says took its toll. It's a pity he's no longer around, I would love to reconnect to him. "He was really nice to me on the set and I think he kind of knew that I was very new to all of it. I remember he got me a radio controlled car right after we met," Oliver, now 33, says of Ritter. To mark the film's 25th anniversary, costar Gilbert Gottfried tracked Oliver down for his podcast, where the former child star opened up about working with the late John Ritter, his swift exit from Hollywood and revealed what he's up to now.
The film was a surprise success, quickly spawning a sequel - but Oliver all but vanished from showbiz shortly after, thanks to a lawsuit filed against his family from Universal Pictures. Michael Oliver memorably played John Ritter's adopted son in the two "Problem Child" films, the first of which came out 25 years ago today.