Tragic Details About Geoffrey Owens' Life Since The Cosby Show

The kids of "The Cosby Show" look a lot different in many ways these days. The once-beloved sitcom's eight-season run came to an end in 1992, and afterward, most of its child stars remained a part of Hollywood in one way or another. Geoffrey Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux, was no different. Although Owens landed several jobs in films and TV after "The Cosby Show," his acting career never really took off, and he eventually had to find other ways to make ends meet. 

RadarOnline reported that the actor had picked up a job as a cashier at Trader Joe's and was earning an estimated $11 an hour in 2018. An onlooker who spotted him at his job stated that although he didn't seem too pleased to be at work, he still greeted her pleasantly. The customer admitted that she was disheartened to see him working a mundane job, and Owens' mother, Ethel, seemingly shared the same sentiment, as she noted, "He was the star of the show, but they forgot about him after it went off the air!"

Meanwhile, when Owens appeared on "Good Morning America," he shared that he was unable to find well-paying jobs despite having a three-decade-long career. He divulged another reason for becoming a cashier. "I wanted a job where I could have some flexibility, [and] try to stay in the business," he said. Owens confessed that although he was "devastated" to see so many people job-shaming him, all the hate paled in comparison to the outpouring of love and support from social media users and celebs. 

Speaking to V-103 Atlanta in 2024, Geoffrey Owens shared that he had a great time working at Trader Joe's. Unfortunately, his happiness didn't last too long because he noticed a customer snapping photos of him at work and naturally felt quite uncomfortable by the invasion of privacy. He was left with no option but to quit his job before the news broke and the public scrutiny increased greatly. 

During a 2018 CNN interview, the "Poppa's House" star asserted that news outlets and the customers who took photos of him working "conspired to exploit a shame situation." However, he believed that the media had played a greater part in job-shaming him because they had played into people's desires to witness a celebrity's fall from grace. Despite everything, Owens informed V-103 Atlanta that he had requested his job back at Trader Joe's after the heat died. 

"Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living. I struggle every day to make my ends meet," the "Mr. Santa" star confessed. Owens also dispelled the notion that he could live off the income from "The Cosby Show" reruns by stating that he didn't play a significant enough role in the sitcom to gain a hefty residual check. Further, he stated that the sitcom wasn't on air all that often because of the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. Owens was ultimately frustrated that many people didn't have a realistic notion of what actors like him were paid.

After Nicki Minaj learned of Geoffrey Owens' financial struggles in 2018, she donated $25,000 to him. Then, the "Poppa's House" actor informed TMZ that although he felt heartened by the "Superbass" hitmaker's generosity, he had still decided to donate the amount to the Actor's Fund to honor his "The Cosby Show" castmate, Earle Hyman who passed away in 2017. Speaking on V-103 Atlanta, Owens explained that he would have happily accepted $25,000 from Minaj if she had let him work for it instead of giving him "a generous, lovely handout." While admitting that the money could have made a difference in his life, Owens stated that several people in a more dire state could make better use of it. 

Minaj wasn't the only celebrity who offered support to Owens after his Trader Joe's job confession since Tyler Perry took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to offer him a spot in his show "The Haves and the Have Nots." Although he eventually got a recurring role on the show, he still told CNN that he would be "uncomfortable" accepting the jobs that came out of the story. "I don't like getting anything that I feel like I haven't earned," he explained. While Owens' unusual career path can be seen as a tragic detail of his life, he isn't the only celebrity to have gone down that road. Several former child actors have ditched Hollywood for surprisingly normal jobs. In fact, even numerous supermodels have left the glitz and glamor behind for regular work.