Clark Gable's grandson, 30, found dead at family home in Texas
dailymail news
Ryan Parry West Josh Boswell Marlene Lenthang www.facebook.com
Clark Gable's grandson has been found dead at the age of 30. The cause of death is unclear. His mother made the heartbreaking announcement on Instagram on Friday.
/favicon.ico?v=2
Mail Online
Clark Gable's grandson has died at the age of 30. Clark Gable III was found unresponsive in his bed at his family home in Texas by his fiancée on Friday morning.

His mother Tracy Scheff, who was married to John Clark Gable - Clark Gable's son, says his death is a mystery, but revealed that the Cheaters host had suffered from drug addiction for years. He had no known prior health conditions.

'I have no idea why he died or how he died,' Scheff, told DailyMail.com. 'But through the years he has struggled with addiction. I don’t know if that took his life, but I know that wasn’t what he wanted to do.'

Scheff, 56, said she discovered her son was dead on Friday morning when his fiancée Summer and mother of his 18-month-old daughter called in hysterics.

'It’s really horrible. We still don’t know what happened,' she said. 'His girlfriend, who he’s been living with for six years, was the one that found him unconscious. I’m still in shock.'

Scheff revealed that Gable had sought therapy for addiction in the past, and several members of his family had struggled with drug abuse.

She said her marriage with Clark's father, John Clark Gable, ended over his addiction problems, and that John's brother died from an overdose aged 27. The bereaved mother also revealed Clark's three siblings have had issues with drugs.

'My current husband, we’ve been together 27 years, and he’s 32 years sober. It’s a struggle that is real,' she said.

'I have four children, all of them have struggled,' Scheff added. 'I have two younger boys with my current husband, Jason. I think one of them’s fine, he just likes to party, but the baby has struggled. He’s got a year sober, he’s 17 and doing great.

'I have a daughter that’s seven months pregnant. She’s doing great now, but she’s struggled too.'

A colleague of the late 30-year-old also told DailyMail.com that Gable had used drugs.

Bobby Goldstein, Cheaters creator and show Executive Producer, said that he was aware Gable took drugs but said it never affected his work.

‘While it’s true I have heard from others that Clark indulged in drugs, of the many years, almost a decade I’ve known him I never saw him on drugs,' he said.

‘Clark was a beautiful boy, he was a beautiful soul. He was the spitting image of his grandfather on screen and I’ve never thought of him other than the most earnest, kind, loving friend and it’s been a great pleasure to work with him.

‘He was a great colleague and a great host on Cheaters.’

Goldstein, 59, of Dallas, Texas says he spoke to Gable regularly and said he was still hosting Cheaters.

The show had been on a two year hiatus but was in pre-production with Gable involved.

‘I talked to him three or four days ago via email and we were supposed to get together soon.

‘The show is in production.’

But Goldstein, who said he is shocked by the death, says he has no clue how he died.

He added: ‘He was a beautiful boy with a lot of friends and I just wake up one day and he’s gone, that’s that.’

Gable's mother described her son as an 'amazing, very compassionate, sensitive guy', and said that he was overjoyed to be a father to his 18-month-old daughter, Shore.

'He really just wanted to be a dad to his daughter, so much,' Scheff said. 'When his girlfriend got pregnant, there was nothing more important for him than being there for the birth of his daughter. That’s all that mattered to him.

'I saw a sweet boy who loved his little girl. It’s funny cos I never could picture him being a dad. He was 6’3” with these giant hands, he was just a big dude. But he had such a sweet soul and was so tender with her, he would do anything for her. That’s all that was important to him.

'She’s only one and a half, so I don’t know how much she’ll remember. But we have lots of video and photos.'

Scheff said Gable had a strained relationship with his father, who she divorced over his drug addiction when Gable was just one year old.

'Addiction ruined our marriage. I wasn’t going to have it, so I took my kids,' she said.

'Clark was one and Kayley was three. I tried as much as I could to help John, but you can’t help them unless they want to help themselves. I wasn’t going to have any of it, so that’s when I left him.

'I hope that John can make it to the funeral. But he has basically distanced himself from the family. My daughter Kayley and I reached out to him, made calls to make sure that he knew, but I never heard anything back.

'He lives in Malibu, I think he lives a very private life. I don’t think Clark and him had a great relationship,' she said. 'I think they spoke to each other once in a while.

'I’ve been divorced from John since 1989. John has struggled with addiction, and I think that caused a wedge. I wish him the best because he’s a good guy, but I haven’t spoken to him for probably eight to ten years.'

Scheff added that she didn't pin responsibility for Gable's previous addiction problems on anyone but her son.

'I don’t blame anybody. I think addiction is nobody’s fault but the addict’s. It’s a disease, it takes over, and no matter how hard you want them to change the only person that has that power is them. They have to fight for it,' she said.

The bereaved mother said that Gable had just begun working on a documentary about his Hollywood royalty grandfather, and had been planning to meet a producer in Los Angeles on Monday.

'He was working on doing a documentary on his grandfather. The producer was planning on coming here in three days to have a meeting. The documentary was going to be about finding out who Clark Gable was as a human being, rather than a movie star. There’s not that many people left from that era. I think they were just going to try and dig deep, see what they could find out about him,' she said.

Though the family, having discovered Gable's death just hours ago, have not made any funeral plans, Scheff said that her son might be buried next to her father, with whom he was very close.

'He absolutely adored my father. He was basically my son’s father,' she told DailyMail.com 'My dad died two years ago. Who knows, maybe he’ll be next to him.'

Scheff also posted a sweet tribute to Instagram Friday, writing: 'It is with an extremely heavy heart we say goodbye to my beautiful son Clark. He passed this morning. I will always be next to you my beautiful son. Mom.'

His ex-girlfriend Heather Chadwell also spoke out to pay tribute to her former lover and spoke of his addiction. She told Radar Online: 'We were together on-and-off for several years and during that time we went through a lot. Clark would disappear for days on end.

'With the disappearing and not knowing what he was doing took a toll on our relationship.

'We were battling our own addiction issues and it was too much.'

Heather also shared that after they split she got a call to say he was in hospital after being stabbed in the lung.

She said: 'His lung got infected and collapsed.

'He had a surgery at the time and it was just so hard on him and It was hard to watch him suffer.'

She also took to Instagram and wrote: 'I am so saddened to hear of the sudden death of my ex boyfriend & beautiful soul Clark Gable III.

'Only 30 years old, way too soon to leave this earth. You will forever have a place in my heart. Prayers to your family and little baby. Rest In Peace Clark.'

He was the only grandson of the famed actor who was fondly known as 'The King of Hollywood' and starred in classics like Gone with the Wind, Mogambo, and Call of the Wild.

Gable was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead at 9.11am on Friday morning at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner is waiting for Gable's body to arrive, and an autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.

Gable's sister Kayley lamented his death on Facebook on Friday.

'My brother was found unresponsive this morning by his fiancé and didn't wake up .. I LOVE YOU CLARKIE I'm so sorry we couldn't save you my heart is broken and shattered RIP,' she wrote.

He started his modeling career at the age of five and went on to work with big companies like Prada, Chrome Hearts, Converse and Disney.

He's best known for hosting the reality show Cheaters from season 13 to 14.

When he took the job he said: 'Acting in films - It's in my blood, and I really want to do it just like my grandfather.'

'But I don't want to be compared to him in any way because I am different. I just happen to be born into these great circumstances, so I feel it gives me a great opportunity for what I want to do,' he added.

Aside from Cheaters, he was in the film Looking in Clarissa and just wrapped up a movie called Heckle, which is currently in post-production. He was filming for movie called Sunset at Dawn at the time of his death.

Gable and his fiancée Summer are parents to a girl named Shore LaRae Gable, who was born in September 2017.

Grandfather William Clark Gable was a Hollywood legend and Oscar-winning actor. He died in 1960 at the age of 59 and Gable III was his only grandson.

Gable's fifth wife Kay Williams gave birth to the star's only son John Clark Gable, Gable III's father.

Gable III was born in Santa Monica and raised in the San Fernando Valley and Malibu. He never attended college but completed an eight week course in filmmaking at the New York Film Academy.

He once said he always tried to live up to his family name.

'The name means a lot to me. It opened a lot of doors. It also carries a lot of expectations. I want to create a new legacy for my family because I feel the ball got dropped by a generation. I want to pick it back up and do what I can with it,' he said to the Hollywood Reporter in 2012.

Gable made headlines in 2011 after he was arrested for shining a green laser pointer at a Los Angeles Police helicopter as it flew 800 feet over Hollywood.

He pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 days in jail for the incident, of which he served six.

He later revealed he was given the laser pointer as a Christmas gift from his mother and was playing with it when he targeted the helicopter and got in trouble.

'It was a big misunderstanding. It was unfortunate it happened. I learned it is very dangerous. Now I'm happy I am able to set an example, and hopefully people will learn from what happened to me,' he said.

On his personal website he said when he was off camera he enjoyed spending time with his family, surfing, skateboarding, fishing, photography, and drone videography.