Gary Coleman's parents are seeking custody of their son's remains, claiming that they are the next of kin since Coleman and his wife, Shannon Price, divorced in 2008.

The news comes as police released Price's 911 call in which she is heard saying she is too freaked out by Coleman's blood to do much and an odd interview obtained by TMZ where Price says she took Coleman off life support because she did not want him to be like Muhammad Ali or Terri Schiavo.

Yesterday, Coleman's lawyer questioned whether Price had the authority to take the actor off life support because they divorced in 2008. However, the Utah hospital where Coleman died said Coleman named Price as the person he wanted to make medical decisions for him if he was incapacitated when he signed an advanced health care directive.

"The arrangement we're working on now is to get Gary back to his next of kin, which is his parents. The funeral home has been notified, the sheriff's office, we've notified them that there is to be no communication on where the body is to go unless its dealt with legally with Gary's next of kin, and that's the way it stands right now," a former manager, Victor Perillo, told the Associated Press.

In the 911 call, Price is heard telling authorities that Coleman had gone downstairs to fix her something to eat when she heard a big bang. She also seemed traumatized by the amount of blood from Coleman's injury.

"He just got home, I heard this big bang, I went downstairs. Blood everywhere. I don't know if he's okay. I'm not down there right now because I have a fever. If I get stressed out, I'm going to faint," she told the operator.

"He fell. His head is bloody. There's blood all over the floor. I don't know what happened," Price continued.

Price said she was ill and didn't want to get traumatized so she called out instructions for Coleman to apply pressure to his wounds and to stay where he was.

"He's lethargic, I can't really help him. I just need help quick," she went on. "I just can't be here with the blood. I'm sorry, I can't do it. I can't. ... There's blood all over, and I can't do anything."

"Yeah, I'm just panicked. I don't know what to do ... I just don't want him to die. I'm freaking out,"

"I'm gagging. I got blood on myself. I can't deal."




In the interview, obtained by TMZ, Price denied that she pushed Coleman. She still refers to him as her husband. She also said that she doesn't want people to think she "pulled the plug" too early.

"I've had a lot of speculation out there. I've had a lot of people sit there and say, 'Yeah she pushed him.' This and that. People are so cruel they don't even know. I was upstairs. He was downstairs. How am I going to push him? That affected me more than anything because the scrutiny that just people come up with. They are heartless. Why would I want to hurt my husband?" she said.

Law enforcement authorities have said there is no criminal investigation going on, and that they responded to Coleman's house on a medical call and found nothing suspicious.

Price went on to talk about Coleman's prospects for survival after the accident. "Even if he had surgery, [he] would not have survived. The doctors told us that even if they had done surgery on him he would have died. He would have bled to death during the surgery," Price said.

She said surgery may have involved doctors cutting out a "chunk" of Coleman's brain and that "he would not be the same...he would be like Muhammad Ali." Ali suffers from Parkinson's disease, which is responsible for his shakes and inability to speak.

"I don't want people to sit there and think I'm a bitch and that I didn't care about him. But, you know, be in my situation. Look what happened to Terri Schiavo," she said. "Gary was gone. His eyes were dilated. ...He was just gone."

Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state for several years before her husband won a court battle against her parents to remove her feeding tube. She died a short time later.

Unfortunately, at this point, it's looking like Coleman's death will be as tumultuous as his life.

Despite the fact that Price and Coleman had a volatile relationship, complete with domestic violence arrests for both, speculation about what happened at this point is useless. Authorities should release the full details of their report. Coleman's doctors or the hospital may also want to address the circumstances of his death so that Price is not subject to undue speculation.

Even if Coleman had divorced Price, he was still living with her and thought enough of her to assign her power over his medical decisions if he became incapacitated. As for Coleman's parents, it is sad that they could not find a way to be more involved in his life while he was alive.