Former child actor Bug Hall, best known for his role as Alfalfa Switzer in “The Little Rascals,” retired from acting in 2020 to live a life away from the spotlight in rural Arkansas, living in accordance with his self-proclaimed extremist Catholic faith. Hall and his wife, Jill Marie DeGroff, are awaiting the arrival of their sixth child, and four days ago, he made a desperate plea for financial support.
Bug Hall’s Financial Struggles
Hall created a GoFundMe fundraiser to ask for help and share personal details about his family. “It’s now six years since I self-cancelled, and I have avoided doing one of these in all that time. I always said this was my choice, and so I didn’t want to offload the glorious burden of it unless there was no other choice. Well here we are,” he wrote on the fundraiser. “We’ve made it onto the new land in record time, but I’m a few materials short of having things working right, and I’ve fallen a little behind on the few bills we have (phone, propane for the camper, and an unexpected electric hookup service fee).”
He continued, “We’re all overjoyed to be where we are, and we’re even enjoying roughing it, but baby six is less than a month away, and I really need some help getting the last few things buttoned up beforehand. My hope is to finalize everything here over the next two weeks so I can take some work until the baby arrives. Times are hard for everyone, and I’m no more deserving than anyone else, but I ask in your charity that you help where you can, whether monetarily, by sharing this, or by prayer and sacrifice for the Hall-Barnetts of the Holy Cross.”
Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto Gives One of the Top Donations for Bug Hall
The actor initially asked for $2,000, but at the time of publication, he has received more than $28,000 from 524 donations. Page Six reports that one of the top donations came from wellness influencer Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto. The publication says she donated the full amount the actor was asking for.
Gilbert-Soto has been dating Google co-founder Sergey Brin since 2023.
Bug has received support from people like Gilbert-Soto, but he has also defended himself against criticism for his decision to fundraise for his family’s expenses. He has responded to messages on X telling him to “get a real job” and “stop impregnating your wife,” to which he says he shall continue to do. Bug has also expressed his dissatisfaction on X with the media reaching out to him to share his thoughts about the fundraiser or the backlash that he is receiving.
In January 2026, Hall told the Daily Mail he had taken a “vow of poverty” and described himself as a “radical Catholic extremist.” He added, “My goal is to maintain a life as free of any need for an income as possible. If there’s a financial need that comes up, I’ll go take some work or do an odd job, for cash to fulfill that need.”
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