Overview
- Her death was confirmed to TMZ by her brother, Robert Watson, who said her condition worsened despite medical efforts.
- She died on Friday in Colorado Springs after being admitted for bleeding complications, according to family accounts reported by multiple outlets.
- Watson portrayed Kathy Gordon in four episodes of Diff'rent Strokes beginning in 1982, a role noted for early on-screen disability representation.
- She later founded Train Rite, a nonprofit that trains shelter dogs to assist people with disabilities.
- Born Melanie Watson Bernhardt on July 20, 1968, in Dana Point, California, she used a wheelchair due to osteogenesis imperfecta and was formerly married to Robert Bernhardt.