Stars Confess Their Secret Stories

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Chad Michael Murray

"I grew up without a mom."
--Chad Michael Murray

"My mom abandoned me and my four brothers when I was 10," says Chad Michael Murray. "She put me on the bus for school one morning, saying she was going out of town for a couple of weeks, [but] she didn't come back till I was 18. My father raised five kids and [he] was there for me every day."

Life without his mom was so stressful for Chad that he withdrew from family and friends and even developed a medical condition that required an operation when he was 15. "I had no stuff, no money, no friends. I was basically a hermit. I only went to school because I had to," he says.

When his mom returned, their relationship was extremely awkward. "I answered the door and it was really uncomfortable," he remembers. Chad admits there's still distance between them, but the experience has made him a strong and confident adult, and he grew even closer to his dad. "I idolize my father," he says.

NEXT...GOOD CHARLOTTE'S BENJI MADDEN...