After spending seven years as the beloved cruise director on the ship that symbolized romance, this actress faced significant backlash when she was let go due to her very public struggle with cocaine addiction.
Following the decline of her career and personal life, the now 70-year-old star transitioned from being a cherished TV steward to working as a cheese steward for a catering company in Seattle.
Keep reading to discover who this actress is!
When The Love Boat debuted in 1977, it truly delivered on its promise of offering “something for everyone.”
Each week, viewers eagerly tuned in to follow the escapades of their favorite crew aboard the Pacific Princess, featuring Captain Stubing and his daughter Vicki (played by Gavin McLeod and Jill Whelan), Doc (Bernie Kopell), Gopher (Fred Grandy), bartender Isaac (Ted Lange), and the cruise director, Cynthia Lauren Tewes, who was just 23 when she took on the role of Julie McCoy.
In the eighth season of the popular TV show, the Golden Globe-nominated Tewes, who secured her role among over 100 applicants, was noticeably missing from the cast. She was replaced by Patricia Klous, who took on the role of her character’s sister and the new cruise director, Judy McCoy.
In a 1985 interview with TV Guide, executive producer Douglas Cramer shed light on Tewes’ departure, stating, “There were significant issues with Lauren. This wasn’t just a recent development; it had been a problem throughout her seven years on The Love Boat… It was incredibly disruptive.”
Tewes was let go from the series in 1984 due to her struggle with cocaine addiction.
“All that money didn’t go into a bank. It went into my nose,” Tewes admitted during the same interview. “I wanted to fit in with everyone. I’m ashamed to say it, but it’s the truth. The first time I tried cocaine was right after I landed the role on The Love Boat, and I was heading to a party. My date suggested, ‘Let’s do drugs.’ And I thought, ‘Why not?’
The rush it provided was an overwhelming euphoria. You feel invincible, braver, and stronger. I believed it gave me the confidence I lacked. It was like going to Oz in search of courage, but instead, I found cocaine.”
In 2014, Tewes opened up to Oprah Winfrey about her battle with cocaine addiction.
“I felt a mix of guilt, shame, humiliation, disgust, and disappointment. I realized I was trapped in a situation I couldn’t escape on my own,” she shared. “I was desperately pleading for someone to help me. My struggle with cocaine began in the 1970s and early 1980s, a time when the drug was widely used, yet I felt like I was the only one in all of Hollywood dealing with it. It was just me, and no one was there to support me.”
Navigating her addiction on her own, the star of the 1981 film Eyes of a Stranger began her withdrawal in 1980, but it took several years for her to achieve sobriety.
“I finally understood that I wasn’t enjoying life; I was harming myself and wasting all my money. So, I decided to quit entirely,” she recounted in her interview with TV Guide.
Following her recovery, Tewes shifted her focus to theater, which provided her with a fresh opportunity to display her skills as both an actress and a director.
During this period, she went through two divorces and met Robert Nadir in 1993 while acting in a play for the Arizona Theater Company. They maintained a long-distance relationship for a year before Tewes moved to Seattle to be with him.
In 1998, she reflected, “I made the choice to transform my entire life, and it has been an incredible journey for me. The theater community here has embraced me wholeheartedly.”
Lauren and Robert tied the knot in 1996, but in 2002, Robert received a diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and sadly passed away that same year at the age of 46. This was not the first time Lauren faced a family tragedy; in 1987, she experienced the heartbreaking loss of her one-month-old daughter, who died after being born prematurely.
She often described herself as a ‘victim of circumstance.’
Although her career never fully bounced back, she did make guest appearances on various TV shows such as Who’s the Boss?, The Fugitive, and Twin Peaks. Tewes also had the chance to reunite with the original cast in an episode of The Love Boat: The Next Wave, where her character was seen in a relationship with Doc.
However, she was absent from the recent Love Boat at Sea Celebration, a seven-night themed cruise that featured several original cast members from the show, including Kopell, Lange, Whelan, and Grandy, who served as a congressman from 1987 to 1995. McLeod passed away in 2021 at the age of 90.
Even though Tewes wasn’t there, her former colleagues certainly remember her fondly.
According to People, Whelan, now 57, mentioned that she often reunites with her old co-star, who makes trips to visit for the weekend. They enjoy “cooking, laughing, and sharing stories together.”
“We should celebrate our friend, who feels like a sister to all of us,” the former child star expressed. “She’s such a genuine and kind person, and let’s not forget, an incredible actress. I look back at The Love Boat episodes and am always amazed by her talent to seamlessly switch between drama and comedy. She truly is one of our favorite people, and we love her dearly.”
On another note, Grandy reflected on her exit from the show, stating that she “has bounced back wonderfully” despite the “unpleasant circumstances” surrounding her departure.
“This was back in the early ’80s, and substance abuse on set was treated very harshly,” Grandy, 76, explained. “It wasn’t seen as a health issue, and the understanding we have today was lacking. In many ways, she was a victim of her circumstances at that time, as the support and therapy she needed were replaced with strict discipline.”
Currently, you can catch her on “Murder and the Murdochs,” a comedy-mystery radio series presented by Imagination Theatre.
When she’s not acting, the 70-year-old culinary artist is honing her expertise as a cheese specialist with a catering company based in Seattle.
“I hope and pray that’s all behind me now,” Tewes shared with the Los Angeles Times. “I believe I made the right decisions by staying in the industry even when it seemed to be pushing me away, by following my passion and determination, and by choosing to persevere.”
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