Somebody help this man!
Hugh Laurie, of House (but, more excitingly, of Blackadder), is in serious emotional trouble, and I feel like he's not getting the care he needs. He's living alone in L.A., and his wife and kids are back in England, where he's from. Here are some excerpts from a Daily Mail article about him:
Hugh has for the past three years lived a solitary and joyless existence in California as he shoots the series for nine months at a time. Increasingly, say friends, the toll has been exacting. He says, "Mine’s not a happy day. I try not to affect other people by sulking and kicking the furniture if I don’t get something right, but there are days when I actually lose it and it’s not pretty. ... I am afraid I punched a door recently."Tortured by his feelings of unworthiness and his obsession that his American accent is not up to scratch, Hugh’s famed melancholy has reached new and darker depths. New actors and crew working with the star on the set are routinely given advance warning by Fox TV producers that they can expect the show’s leading man to be morose and sullen.
Says a friend: "It is painfully obvious to everyone who knows him that Hugh is in not in good shape at the moment. God knows he can be the most unhappy bloke at the best of times, but this is different. He desperately misses the children and the separation has put pressure on the marriage."
Indeed, neighbours are used to seeing a morose Laurie sitting alone on a cheap, striped, fold-up chair on the balcony of the modest apartment where he lives.
Hugh, who has fought depression for years, has admitted in the past to considering suicide on more than one occasion.
You see what I'm saying? And he's not in counseling or therapy for any of this. He's just taking homeopathic drugs. Hey, L.A., you've got a bazillion shrinks out there. Can't one of them help Hugh out?
Comments
If this is true, it's odd. Stephen Fry was in a popular UK TV show with Hugh Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster (I may have that last name wrong; it's from P.D. Woodhouse). Also, they go much further back, being old friends of the same social class.
Stephen Fry is the actor who did the explosive UK documentary about Bipolar last year, revealing his struggles with the disorder. You'd think with friends like that, Laurie would seek medical attention! But maybe he believes in a holistic approach. His father was a doctor. That reminds me, is it time yet for my next dose?
On a catty personal note, what's the problem with bringing the tweens and teens to LA? I suspect The Lauries have them in those right public UK schools which get you into Cambridge where Daddy went and LA is just too horrifying for the wife. (Claws retracted..sort of.)
Grow up. My Dad didn't ask us when he got a promotion; it was just pack your bags, we're moving across the country. Kids are flexible generally and it can be enriching to see another
"culture". We have kids moving up from Mexico every other week to our little town. It must be just awful to be separated from your loved ones.
Like you said, get him a LA shrink and therapist! He's raking in over $300,000 an episode - he could get top notch help.
Posted by: Annette | March 20, 2007 06:35 PM
Hey, I'm in L.A. Maybe I should swing by and comfort him. (I'm a giver.)
Posted by: Jennifer | March 20, 2007 07:05 PM
Wow. Thanks for finding this Liz. I've known for years that Stephen Fry, the other part of Fry and Laurie has been suicidal and depressed. But i didn't know this about Hugh Laurie
I've thought this actor was brilliant from the first time I saw him in Blackadder years ago. I hope he can get the help he needs.
Posted by: susan | March 20, 2007 10:58 PM
I saw Laurie on Leno, Craig Ferguson and Ellen (I lasted 30 seconds with the latter). His interview with Leno was the most revealing in that they come from similar backgrounds although from opposite sides of the pond. laurie was asked if he was happy with House and all the accolades. He responded that being happy wasn't in his make up. Something else drives him, as I believe does Leno. He followed his father to Cambridge both were top notched rowers and Laurie devoted all of his time to it. He said he learned to sleep on his feet!
It is sad that this brilliant man who excels at everything he trys is so unhappy.
Posted by: terry | March 22, 2007 12:11 AM
I have little to no compassion for this man. I think if he lived and worked where his family is, he'd still be stinking rich (the Brits pay their stars don't they?). Go home, Laurie. Many people do not have that choice. His clinical depression, if that is his diagnosis is a separate issue. Still, he can afford any treatment anywhere. I think you should save your compassion for those who are nonfunctional and unable to get treatment.
Posted by: Marie | March 23, 2007 12:15 AM
Jeez, Marie,
Now we have to decide our compassion based on someone's career choice? and their choices in that career? Come on. If the guy is lonely and misses his family, regardless of the reason for separation, he deserves our compassion.
Plus, you are not in his shoes to judge. You have no idea what the opportunity of House means to him. For one, it is one of the biggest creative opportunities available for any actor.
For someone devoted to acting, you go where the good parts are, whatever that means to you. I don't think that Laurie did it for fame. In fact, I'd bet that Laurie thought the show would last half a season, if that, when he took on the part (look at how many other really great shows Fox has prematurely canned in the past 10 years). Regardless, as he said, something else drives him, and I think that would be creativity and passion, which is something we usually respect in other artists, even if that passion drives them far away from their homes and families (look at Andrew Goldsworthy, for instance). Why should that respect and compassion be withheld from an artist just because their chosen medium is to act on TV?
I think we should all feel compassionate for Hugh, both for his loneliness from his family, and for his (what seems) clinical depression.
Posted by: JTony | March 24, 2007 05:19 PM