Even though TV’s most famous doctor was earning $700,000 per episode in the final season, *House* star Hugh Laurie said he still feels like a fraud.
Laurie regrets playing a “fake version” of a doctor instead of becoming a real one, as his father had hoped. He admitted that his “dad would have hated” the easier path he chose by becoming an actor.
Keep reading to find out why Laurie chose acting over medicine.
Dr. William (Ran) Laurie, Hugh’s father, had big dreams for his youngest son, born in June 1959.
Hugh Laurie was on track to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father was not only a respected physician but also a 1948 Olympic gold medalist in rowing and a graduate of a Cambridge college.
When British-born Hugh Laurie was studying at the same college as his father, he was also a member of the rowing team, with plans to train for the Olympics and then go to medical school.
However, Laurie discovered a drama club, the Cambridge Footlights, a sketch comedy group. There, he met actress Emma Thompson (*The Remains of the Day*) and his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry, who later co-starred with him in the 1997 film *Wilde*.
Laurie’s path changed completely.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the now 64-year-old actor appeared in several TV shows, including the BBC sitcom *Blackadder*, where he co-starred with Fry.
Hugh Laurie also appeared in the 1995 film *Sense and Sensibility* with Emma Thompson, with whom he had once been in a relationship. He starred in Disney’s live-action *101 Dalmatians* (1996) and even made a guest appearance on *Friends*.
In 2004, Laurie was offered the chance to play a doctor in a new TV series called *House*, a medical drama that ran for eight seasons.
In his Golden Globe-winning role as Dr. Gregory House, Laurie dropped his British accent and perfectly played the narcissistic genius who led a teaching hospital in New Jersey.
During the show’s run, Laurie became Hollywood’s most popular doctor, gaining a huge global fan base. However, life as a celebrity also brought its own challenges.
“I had some pretty bleak times, dark days when it felt like there was no way out,” Hugh Laurie said in a 2013 interview with *Radio Times* (via *Daily Mail*). “I have a strong work ethic, so I was determined never to be late or miss a single day of filming. You wouldn’t catch me calling in sick, saying, ‘I think I’m getting the flu.’ But there were times when I’d think, ‘If I had a little accident on the way to the studio and got a couple of days off to recover, that would be great.’”
Those days off didn’t come until 2012, with the final season of *House*.
After that, Laurie kept busy, appearing in TV shows like *Veep* and the 2015 science fiction film *Tomorrowland*, which starred another famous TV doctor, George Clooney.
In 2016, Hugh Laurie took on another doctor role, this time as neuropsychiatrist Dr. Eldon Chance in the TV series *Chance*.
The *Maybe Baby* star explained to the *Los Angeles Daily News*, “As a gambler, my instinct is to walk away after even a modest win… Yet I was drawn back to this wonderful project that was simply irresistible.” Comparing *House* to his role in *Chance* (which was canceled after two seasons in 2017), Laurie said, “The characters are very different. Their medical practices and attitudes toward life are completely different.”
Despite his Hollywood fame, Laurie, who also starred in 2018’s *Holmes & Watson*, still feels he let his father down by not becoming a real doctor. His father, who passed away from Parkinson’s disease in 1998, had been a respected physician.
“My father was a real doctor. If it’s true that many men try to become versions of their father and fail, it seemed fitting that I ended up being a fake version of a doctor,” said Laurie, who also played a doctor in the 2005 film *The Big Empty*.
“My father had high hopes for me to follow him into medicine,” Hugh Laurie said. “I would have liked to become a doctor myself, and I still have dreams about being one. We live in a world of shortcuts, don’t we? And I took those shortcuts. Dad would have hated that.”
Laurie calls himself a “cop-out,” adding, “Honestly, this causes me a lot of guilt.”
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She is the TV star who slept with over 700 men
The reality TV star, Belinda Love Rygier, says that her sex addiction “ruled her life” and led her to sleep with over 700 men.
She explained how she managed to overcome her addiction and have a normal life.
Belinda “Love” Rygier, who started her TV career by participating in the 2017 season of The Bachelor Australia, said that she is following a recovery program and has been out of a relationship for 15 months.
The 38-year-old woman shared that at one point in her life, she would go out six nights a week just to seek new sexual partners.
During the peak of her addiction, dating apps were not available as they are today, the Australian presenter confessed.
Confessions of a Former Sex Addict
Belinda was invited to a radio show and confessed that she “didn’t realize she had a problem until she healed from it,” according to Mirror.
“When I recovered, I was convinced that there was an unresolved trauma from my past that caused my sex addiction,” she said.
Although her sex addiction had taken over her life, the woman says she was a “functional addict,” with a successful career that operated smoothly, keeping her secrets hidden.
The TV Star says she has “lost count” of the number of men she has slept with over the years but is certain it has exceeded “the figure of 700.”
However, she said she is “not ashamed” of the number of sexual partners she has had and still has a “high sexual desire.”
“Men were very good at telling me what I wanted to hear; it was about feeling beautiful, validated, and loved, rather than making love,” she said.
Why she is now practicing sexual abstinence
Belinda continued, “Society has declined, and we use sex for the wrong reason, which is quick or momentary validation from others.”
She confessed that she can no longer engage in sexual activities without having a strong emotional connection. “I will have sex again, but with someone I have a connection with.”
The TV star is now a “love guru” on social media and often appears on media programs to offer words of wisdom to her thousands of followers.
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