Geoffrey Owens Says He's Still Struggling 'Every Day,' 6 Years After Going Viral for Working at Trader Joe's

Geoffrey Owens is opening up about his struggles to make a living as an actor, six years after he went viral for working in a Trader Joe’s supermarket.

The 63-year-old actor starred as Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992 and has worked steadily ever since then, but wasn’t able to make a full living from his acting work.

Photos of Geoffrey bagging groceries at a Trader Joe’s went viral in 2018 and things seemed to turn around for him with some acting job offers, but there haven’t been enough to allow him to live comfortably as an actor.

He just opened up in a new interview about his recent struggles.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I struggle every day to make my ends meet,” Geoffrey said on the Big Tigger Morning Show in Atlanta. “And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies, whether it’s Mr. Santa or I’m on Poppa’s House on CBS right now. People have the impression that, ‘You’re making a lot of money. What’s the problem? Why would you have financial troubles?’ They don’t understand the specifics of how my industry works.”

He added, “I’m grateful for the work I have. I work more than a lot of people do, so I got to keep perspective.”

Geoffrey stopped working at Trader Joe’s after the viral moment because he felt like he lost his privacy.

“It was strange because someone had been in the store taking pictures,” he said. “And I was like, now that this is breaking, I’m not going to feel comfortable working in this store wondering who is around with a camera. It would just be too weird. I’m a very private person.”

Geoffrey added, “It wasn’t like I quit knowing I would be making a lot of money soon or anything. I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to handle that kind of scrutiny and attack on my privacy.”

His son is now an actor too and made his debut on a Netflix show!