Former TV star tells crowd God mended broken life

For nine years, the hit TV series, Father Knows Best, was watched by millions of American each week. Lauren Chapin, who played Kathy, the youngest daughter of TV parents Robert Young and Jane Wyatt, recently visited Ceres Christian Church and shared her powerful story of recovery from years of brokeness.

Chapin's real life was far from the ideallic Anderson family on TV, she told the church on February 12, 2006. Her mother was an alcoholic who rejected her and denied her affection. Her father and one of his friends sexually abused her, scarring her emotionally for years.

Chapin said her ensuing years of drug and alcohol addiction were finally broken after she entered a church and put her faith in Jesus Christ. She said that there is hope by faith in Christ and a way out of the destructive world of drugs and alcohol, or any aberrant lifestyle with the potential to destroy.

Contributing to Chapin's downward spiral was the abrupt cancellation of her famous series without warning. She was crushed since the show was just about the only stable force in her life and now it was gone. Her mother later sued her for her earnings from Father Knows Best, but Lauren countersued and won.

Addicted to drugs and alcohol and surviving a suicide attempt, Chapin later married a young man she met in rehab.

She miscarried seven babies but finally bore a son, Matt, who would larer lead her to a church. During one church experience, she gave her heart to God, and as she walked down the aisle she did something she hadn't done in years: she broke down and sobbed. Chapin went on to express forgiveness to her father one day before his death. She also remembers laying on her mother's grave as she poured her heart out.

She has recently acquired the rights to her autobiography, “Father Does Know Best,” which soon will be back in print.

Besides the Father Knows Best series, Chapin starred in many TV programs, radio shows, as well as movies and commercials. She earned six Junior Emmy Awards for Best Child Actress.

Lauren is busy with her talent agency and is credited with starting Jennifer Love Hewitt (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ghost Whisperer) in show business. She is a founding member of A Minor Consideration, an organization that is dedicated to the prevention of exploiting child actors.

Lauren has been awarded ‘Honorable Mayor' of three cities in the states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida for her charity work. In the past six years she has raised over two million dollars for underprivileged and abused children through her public appearances and fundraising efforts. She is also involved in fundraising for the American Heart Association as well as the Children's Wish Foundation.

Lauren's two children, Matt, 33, is modeling, and daughter Summer has appeared in the motion picture, Matinee with John Goodman as well as the television show, Welcome Freshman on Nickelodeon.

Lauren's brother Billy (Tobor the Great, A Man Called Peter), was the highest paid child actor of the 1950s, and her oldest brother Michael (Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas, Arizona Manhunt) recently was presented the Golden Boot Award. Her uncle was the late singer / songwriter Harry Chapin (“Cat's in the Cradle.”)

Chapin was invited to the church through Associate Pastor Dave Broyles. He recalls watching Father Knows Best while growing up in the Salinas Valley.

“Having known Lauren for some 15 years, my wife and I were immediately drawn to her winning smile and infectious personality,” said Broyles. “Even though she had blessed our home by coming into our living room for nine years on the famous series, what Lauren is doing now with her life is far more significant than any sitcom could ever accomplish.”