Gary Coleman marries in secret

Different Strokes star Gary Coleman has wed in secret - and kept it under wraps for six months.

The former child star married a woman almost half his age and twice his height, at a private mountaintop ceremony in Nevada.

Coleman revealed his relationship with Shannon Price was not only his first marriage - but also the first time he had been intimate with a woman.

Coleman, who rose to fame as Arnold Jackson in the US sitcom Different Strokes, met Price while he was filming 2006 movie Church Ball in Utah.

It was 22-year-old Price who proposed, but Coleman then surprised her on her birthday by whisking her to a hilltop in the Valley of Fire State Park to exchange vows. "Nobody was around but the minister, preacher, the videographers, the photographer, the helicopter pilot and us," Coleman told a US television show.

While Price is just 22-years-of age and five foot seven inches tall, the actor is 40 and four foot eight. "In the middle of the night I'm wondering: 'Gee, what made me get married to this woman?' And I just say love," Coleman explained to Inside Edition. "I never got the opportunity to be romantic or feel romantic with anyone before Shannon.

"I wasn't saving myself. She just happened to be the one."

The couple played down their differences in height and age and said they did not see that as important. "I don't have issues with age, I have issues with intelligence," Coleman said. "She's more intelligent than I am and that's what matters to me."

"He was 10 feet tall to me because he was sweet and I really liked his personality," Price added.

The 22-year-old said they kept their nuptials secret because she wanted to be seen as her own person. "I just want my own identity as well because I don't want to be known as Gary Coleman's wife," Price said.

But Coleman said it was not all sweetness and roses, and admitted they have a somewhat volatile relationship. "We may go a week and not speak to each other," he said.