Jeremy Miller, best known as Ben Seaver on the hit 1980s sitcom “Growing Pains,” is opening up about how his TV family stepped in when life off-camera got tough. The 48-year-old actor recently shared that his co-stars Kirk Cameron and the late Alan Thicke were there for him during one of the darkest chapters of his life.

Miller admitted he was “really struggling” after the 2008 economic crash when his catering business collapsed. “I mean, really struggling on the brink of homelessness,” he revealed in a Youngstown Studio interview. That’s when his on-screen dad and brother came to the rescue.

“Things got really bad, and Alan and Kirk were the only two who stepped up to help me,” Miller said. “Alan set up interviews with all of his restaurateur friends in Santa Barbara and a few other places and got me connected to different places where I could utilize my chef skills and earn some money to help take care of my family.”

All it took was one phone call. “All I had to say was, ‘Hey, Al, I’m really struggling. Do you know anybody who might—’ and that’s all I had to say,” Miller recalled. “He was on the phone for the next two days, making connections and doing everything he could to try and help me. That was just the kind of guy he was.”

Thicke, who played Dr. Jason Seaver, passed away in 2016 at the age of 69. For Miller, his death was a heartbreaking loss. “He was just one of the most amazing men,” he said. “He was always so full of life, which is why his sudden death was such a shock.”

“I mean, all of us, we really thought he was going to be the next Dick Clark, you know? 102 and still going. Because he was so full of life and so full of energy,” Miller added. “He was just such a kind, generous, and amazing man. And him and I would talk probably once a month, once every two months. He would call just to check up on me, make sure everything’s going good. But he really did fill that father role. He was my other dad.”

Like many child stars, Miller’s life wasn’t without challenges. He admitted he battled alcohol addiction for years before entering recovery. “I’ve been totally sober for over seven years now,” he shared, though he recalled a darker season when he was “a mean drunk” who was “blacking out every single day.”

He also confessed that his drinking once led to a DUI. “Some financial difficulties arose, I had a pretty big fight with my fiancée and I bolted the house and … I stopped at the liquor store. It’s the only DUI I ever got, and believe me, I deserved many more, and I don’t say that lightly,” Miller said. “It’s probably the thing I’m most ashamed of in my drinking career, is how many times I put other peoples’ lives at risk by getting behind the wheel.”

Looking back, he’s grateful he was pulled over that night. “I pounded a half pint of vodka, probably would have drank a lot more, and I got pulled over for a DUI, and from that point on, I got back into working on my recovery.”

“Growing Pains,” which ran for seven seasons from 1985 to 1992, was a family sitcom loved by millions. For Miller, it wasn’t just a job—it gave him a family for life. Thanks to the generosity of Cameron and the late Thicke, he was able to weather one of the hardest storms of his life.

Their kindness reminds us all of the power of stepping in when someone is struggling. As Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”