Lauren Chapin Net Worth

What is Lauren Chapin's Net Worth?

Lauren Chapin is an American former actress who has a net worth of $500 thousand. Lauren Chapin is best known for playing youngest child Kathy Anderson on the 1950s television sitcom "Father Knows Best." After years of substance abuse and mental health issues that mostly took her away from acting, Chapin became a talent manager, public speaker, and ordained Christian evangelist.

Early Life and Education

Lauren Chapin was born on May 23, 1945 in Los Angeles, California. Due to her work as a child actress, she was educated on the set of her shows. Her older brothers, Billy and Michael, were also child actors. Chapin had a troubled upbringing marked by an alcoholic mother and a sexually abusive father.

Acting Career

As a child actress, Chapin rose to fame playing Kathy Anderson on the television sitcom "Father Knows Best," which premiered in 1954. Kathy was the second daughter and youngest child of Margaret Anderson, played by Jane Wyatt, and Jim Anderson, played by Robert Young. Her siblings were Bud (Billy Gray) and Betty (Elinor Donahue). "Father Knows Best" ran for a total of six seasons through the spring of 1960. During her time on the show, Chapin made appearances on "The Bob Hope Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." After the end of "Father Knows Best," Chapin found herself so typecast that she could hardly find work in Hollywood. She eventually landed some roles as an adult, including in the 1980 NBC television film "Scout's Honor," starring child actor Gary Coleman, and the television series "School Bus Diaries," which ran from 2016 to 2017.

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Other Activities

After mostly stepping away from acting, Chapin became a talent manager for singers and actors. Notably, she helped launch the career of Jennifer Love Hewitt. Elsewhere, Chapin does public speaking and conducts show-business seminars. She is also a licensed and ordained Christian evangelist, having been born-again at the Eagle's Nest Church in Los Angeles in 1979. Not long after that, Chapin taught natural childbirth in Orlando, Florida.

Among her other activities, Chapin has been significantly involved in charity and philanthropy. She has worked as a fundraiser for the AIDS foundation Hope and Help and has also raised money for children suffering from abuse and lack of resources. Chapin was a member of the founding board of directors of A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit that works to protect child actors.

Personal Life

During her years struggling to find work after the end of "Father Knows Best," Chapin fell into despondency and began abusing alcohol and marijuana, and later heroin. In 1967, she was arrested in Los Angeles for attempting to cash an illegitimate check, and over the subsequent three years she was either behind bars or in a psychiatric institution. Chapin married and divorced twice, producing two children named Matthew and Summer. She was later held captive as a prostitute by a heroin dealer, and tried to kill herself by chopping off her left hand with a meat cleaver. Chapin also came close to dying due to viral encephalitis and hepatitis. She made a slow but steady recovery by going to drug rehab, where a counselor introduced her to Christianity and spurred her journey toward evangelism.

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