The actress rose to fame with her role in “The Love Boat,” as cruise director Julie McCoy. Despite the fame she had, her personal life led her to struggle with addiction with substances.
After seven years of appearing on the show, the star stated, “I felt guilty. I felt shame and humiliation and disgust and disappointment and every other bad word you can think of.”
She realised that she can’t find solution alone, she begged for help from people close to her. Sadly, no one helped her.
When the show was over, the star went to rehab. But the damage she had done to her career can’t be undone.
As years passed, she was spotted in the Princess Cruises Love Boat at Sea event in 2024.
When Fred Grandy was asked about the star’s leave from the show, the actor said, “This would’ve been the early ’80s — substance abuse on a set in those days was a punishable offense. It was not a healthcare problem, and it was not understood in the way it is understood now.”
“She was a victim of circumstance because the attention and care and therapy she should have gotten was meted out in the form of discipline,” Grandy added.
“TV is a cruel business, and it’s particularly predatory toward young ingénues.”
After her struggles, the star went to Seattle, as she followed her heart. As she kept her love for acting, she started to work as a cheese steward. “It’s a big part of my past. It’s not any of my present. My personal journey has been well-documented.”
“I’m much happier now than I was when I was 23,” the star said and added, “I’m more self-aware, more peaceful. I spent a long time looking at myself, asking, ‘What’s important to me?'”
Sadly, in 1987, the star lost her premature born one-month-old baby. Two years later, she lost her husband at the age of 42.
The star is none other than legendary Lauren Tewes.
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