advised her not to go into acting which is why she never got into the business sadly andy's son didn't handle life so well the tragedy of andy griffith jr after the divorce of andy and barbara sam descended into alcoholism it wasn't long before this led to broader drug addiction and various run-ins with the law sam also developed mental health problems and anger issues he was arrested for domestic abuse after hitting his pregnant wife a pregnancy that tragically ended in a miscarriage sam was later convicted and sentenced to three years in jail this sentence was later extended due to violent behavior while in jail eventually the turmoils of sam's life became too much for the family to handle while they tried to support him and get him into rehab he drifted further and further away andy griffith eventually disowned him and even dixie had to cut him off after years of exhausting his body with drugs and alcohol sam griffith developed cirrhosis of the liver which cost him his life in his final days he wanted to reconcile with his father and the rest of his family he wrote andy a letter in which he apologized for his actions and asked for forgiveness sadly the letter never made it to andy sam was found dead with the letter still in his hand andy griffith never recovered from losing his son after sam passed andy was never the same his daughter said he was devastated by his passing and that it affected him on a very deep level perhaps the most tragic detail in this story is that andy didn't attend his son's funeral due to his massive fame there would have been too much paparazzi at the funeral for him to show up given how fragile andy was during this time he decided it was better for him not to go at all it seems his television role as a father may have prevented him from giving fatherhood his all in real life for many years after andy blamed himself for sam's death he felt he was responsible for what happened and that he could have lived longer if andy were a better father it's no secret that andy griffith himself struggled with addiction for these reasons and later passed with many unresolved sorrows now it's time to hear from you do you think sheriff andy taylor is the best tv father of all time let us know in the comment section below and before you go make sure you give this video a like and subscribe to fax first if you haven't already click the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest content
START_INTERACTION_TOKEN now it's time to hear from you do you think sheriff andy taylor is the best tv father of all time let us know in the comment section below and before you go make sure you give this video a like and subscribe to fax first if you haven't already click the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest content END_INTERACTION_TOKEN