Former Nickelodeon star Tylor Chase’s dad opens up about his son’s battle with addiction, mental health
Former Nickelodeon child star Tylor Chase, 36, was found on the streets of Los Angeles looking disheveled and homeless. In a video that initially surfaced on TikTok in September and has since gone viral, he was seen digging in the dirt behind a 7‑Eleven in Riverside, California—an hour outside of LA—while wearing tattered clothing and speaking loudly to the sky.
Chase’s father, Joseph Mendez Jr., a realtor in Georgia, has described their family’s long‑standing battle with mental illness. “He’s a wonderful person when he’s Tylor,” Mendez told the Daily Mail. He added that, for more than a decade, the family has searched for treatment options that address both substance abuse and his mental‑health conditions, which were first diagnosed in 2015.
After a stint in a Georgia rehabilitation program around 2021, Chase refused to continue the prescribed course of medication, opting instead to resume drug use. Mendez said the son “later chose to discontinue medication and resumed substance use.” Following the failed recovery effort, Chase returned to California to be nearer to his mother, Paula Moisio, also a realtor in the Los Angeles area.
Legal records from Riverside show that Chase now faces 12 criminal cases dating from 2023, ranging from shoplifting to substance‑related offenses. Police say he is not wanted for any of those crimes, but they have engaged with him through a Public Safety Engagement team. Despite repeated offers, he has consistently declined shelter or other assistance.
When questioned, Chase denied having any mental illness but admitted to taking several medications—Prozac, Adderall, Sudafed, Wellbutrin and Zoloft—each prescribed by a psychiatrist. “I’m not really active homeless at this time, I’m thinking that I would like to go see my dad, relatively shortly, in the state of Georgia,” he told reporters. “I have the whole setup to stay out there, a room out there hopefully … Probably a housing assistance program in Georgia most likely.”
Mendez reiterated that the family has done everything possible to help his son but emphasized that Chase must be willing to accept support. The actor says he still receives his mother’s help but is preparing to return to Georgia in the near future, hoping for stability and housing there.
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