For so many who grew up in the mid-2000s, Blake Garrett isn’t just another name in a headline; he’s Plug from How to Eat Fried Worms — the scrappy, chaotic kid who felt like someone you might have actually known. Behind that performance was a child who had already lived a lifetime on stage, from Austin theater productions to a national tour with Barney, long before Hollywood ever called his name.
In recent years, the spotlight had faded, but the work he was doing mattered even more. Three years sober, rebuilding in Oklahoma, he was trying to piece together a quieter, steadier life. His sudden death after a painful shingles diagnosis leaves his family fearing a tragic accident, but without clear answers. What remains is the ache of a story that shouldn’t be over yet, and the tender realization that the kids who shaped our childhood screens were growing up — and struggling — right alongside us. May he rest in peace, remembered not just for who he was on camera, but for how hard he fought off it.
