The Sad But Successful Life of Michigan’s Verne Troyer
Verne Troyer had a pretty successful career in Hollywood. He was kept busy as an actor and stunt man and gained his major fame as “Mini-Me” in the ‘Austin Powers’ movies. He made his film debut as the stunt double for the baby character in the 1994 film “Baby’s Day Out” and appeared in a good number of films including “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” where he portrayed the character of Griphook.
Verne was also a favorite cast member on several TV reality shows, and had his own youtube channel where he would answer people’s questions like “what things upset you?” or what’s your favorite burger?” which he always answered happily. And he was from Michigan…..born and buried.
He was born Verne Jay Troyer on New Year’s Day 1969 in Sturgis, St. Joseph County, Michigan and was raised Amish for his first few years; his parents left the Amish community later in his childhood.
Even though he had two normal-size siblings – a brother and a sister - Verne’s two-foot, eight-inch body was due to cartilage/hair hypoplasia. Medline Plus explains the condition as “a disorder of bone growth characterized by short stature with other skeletal abnormalities; fine, sparse hair and abnormal immune system function”.
They go on to say that affected people “have unusually short limbs and short stature from birth. They typically have malformations in the cartilage near the ends of the long bones in the arms and legs”.
Verne attended high school in Centreville and graduated in 1987. After his Hollywood successes, the school dedicated and erected a plaque in his honor in 2003.
Ten years of problems led up to his death, beginning in 2008. On June 25, his former girlfriend handed over a video to TMZ which featured her and Verne making love. Verne sued for invasion of privacy, citing his former girlfriend, TMZ, and the weasel who was trying to make a quick buck by selling copies of the video to the public.
If that wasn’t enough, he suffered from alcoholism…..and depression was also believed to be a factor in his decline. On April 21, 2018, after being treated in a hospital, Verne died due to alcohol poisoning in Los Angeles. Reports keep saying he committed suicide, but alcohol poisoning doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what happened, right?
Verne’s body was brought back to Michigan, where he was buried in the Leonidas Cemetery in St. Joseph County. See his final resting place in the photo gallery below.
The Life of Verne Troyer
If you wanna see some photos of Verne when he was in high school, click HERE!
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