Growing Pains ran from 1985 to 1992 on ABC. While most audiences remember Kirk Cameron’s Mike Seaver as the teen who chased girls and constantly cracked jokes, his sister on the show was the complete opposite. Tracey Gold’s Carol Seaver was focused, organized and, yes, a little bit intense at times. While Cameron might have stepped away from Hollywood years ago, Gold kept working and showing up in TV and film over the years.
Growing Pains was a great show that pulled in solid ratings for years. Heck, it even won an Emmy, too. And it’s easy to see why it pulled in so many families. The show followed a Long Island family led by psychiatrist dad Jason Seaver (played by Alan Thicke) and journalist mom, Joanna Kerns’ Maggie. Their family, which included 4 very different kids, were the focus.
But while the shows betrayed them as the perfect family everyone wanted to be a part of. Tracey Gold doesn’t have perfect memories of the show. In fact, behind the scenes, there was a lot happening.
As the show pushed for sharper humour in later seasons, the jokes changed and they felt personal. “Unfortunately, I think in that time it became at my expense,” Gold said on Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty. The writers began to work in more weight jokes, and for the first time, Carol wasn’t only punchline. Tracey was, too.
At the time, Gold didn’t push back, however. “You shut your mouth and you do your job,” she said about being a child actor on set. Meanwhile, the young actress kept it all in entirely, which, of course, didn’t work. After being told to lose weight, she lost 20 pounds in a single month. And, while every was complimenting her on the change, she struggled to keep up with the diet.
“And all of a sudden, everybody’s coming up to me… ‘Oh my God, you look so good,’” she recalled. “Was I that embarrassing before?”
By the early ’90s, Gold actually stepped away from Growing Pains to get treatment for anorexia. It was serious. In 2003, she published Room to Grow: An Appetite for Life. In her book, she opens up about everything she went through.
Of course, this didn’t set her back. She continued to work in the industry. In the ’90s, she showed up in TV thrillers like Lady Killer and Stolen Innocence. And, of course, All Hallow’s Eve in 2016.
In 2022, she joined Worst Cooks of America and won. “I was proud of myself,” she said. “It was a victory for sure.”
Now 56, Tracey Gold shows up with silver hair, a relaxed smile, and none of the pressure she carried as a teen on network TV. Fans still recognise her instantly. There’s still a lot of Carol Seaver there.
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