TLDR: Lauren Tewes had already beaten a cocaine addiction by the time producers fired her from The Love Boat, a detail that got buried under the scandal at the time. Decades later, one of her own costars publicly admitted he wishes he’d stood up for her when it happened.
Lauren Tewes had quit a waitressing job and picked up small commercials and guest spots, including a role on Charlie’s Angels and a part as an assistant DA in Starsky and Hutch, before landing the role of cruise director Julie McCoy.
She beat out more than 100 other actresses for the part, and the offer came together so fast that she was hired at 9:30 the night before filming the show’s third and final pilot, reporting to set at 6:30 the next morning.
Her Addiction Started the Same Day She Got the Job
Tewes has said her first exposure to cocaine came the very night she learned she’d landed the role, on her way to a party to celebrate. “I wanted to be one of the gang,” she told TV Guide in 1985. “I am ashamed to say it, but it’s true.”
She’s said the pressure of the role made things worse rather than better, despite being told she was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. “I was trying to keep my job, keep my husband, keep my house,” she said. “I was trying to please everybody and I was destroying myself.”
She Was Actually Already Sober When She Got Fired
Executive producer Douglas Cramer fired Tewes after the 1984 season wrapped, following real, ongoing friction between the two. “She does not deal with reality,” Cramer said at the time. “There were severe problems with Lauren. Not just recently, but for all of the seven years she was with The Love Boat… It was terribly disrupting.”
The character’s exit was never explained on screen in real time. Julie McCoy simply wasn’t there when Season 8 began, with her absence addressed only in passing at the start of that season, and her sister Judy McCoy, played by Pat Klous, stepped into the cruise director role in her place.
One Costar Publicly Regrets Not Speaking Up
Fred Grandy, who played purser Gopher, has said openly that he wishes he’d done more at the time. “My one regret about her situation was that I never really came forward and defended and supported her in a way that we should have,” Grandy said on the CW docuseries TV We Love. “This is a business where a lot of people use controlled substances in one way, shape or form.”
Grandy’s own regret is only part of a longer story that eventually took him all the way to an actual seat in Congress.
She Came Back Twice, Years Apart
Tewes made a solo guest appearance in a 1985 episode once she’d gotten clean, then returned fully for the television movie specials that ran through 1986 and 1987. She kept working steadily afterward, including roles on My Two Dads, The New Mike Hammer, and Murder, She Wrote.
She couldn’t resist a second return either, reprising Julie McCoy in the 1998 revival Love Boat: The Next Wave for two seasons before moving on to a recurring role on The Fugitive. She’s said the “former cocaine addict” label has followed her ever since, telling one interviewer, “Every time I’m referenced in the media, it comes up.”
She’s Still Connected to the Real Cruise Line Today
Like several of her castmates, Tewes has continued attending Princess Cruises events over the years. In 2020, she met Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell, hosts of the CBS reality series The Real Love Boat, a modern reinvention of the show she’d once been fired from.
You can read more about that reboot, and the classic show’s real ties to the actual cruise line, in our piece on The Real Love Boat and our piece on Princess Cruises and The Love Boat. You can read more about the rest of the classic cast in our full guide to the show.
Lauren Tewes, Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Lauren Tewes fired from The Love Boat?
She was fired in 1984 by executive producer Douglas Cramer following ongoing friction tied to her cocaine addiction, though she had actually already gotten sober by the time she was let go.
Did Lauren Tewes ever return to The Love Boat?
Yes, she made a solo guest appearance in 1985, returned fully for the television movie specials through 1986-87, and later reprised the role again in the 1998 revival Love Boat: The Next Wave.
Has anyone from the cast spoken about how Lauren Tewes was treated?
Yes, costar Fred Grandy has publicly said he regrets not defending her more at the time, acknowledging that substance use was common in the industry generally.
How was Julie McCoy’s absence explained on the show?
It wasn’t given a real farewell. Her absence was addressed only briefly at the start of Season 8, and her sister Judy McCoy, played by Pat Klous, took over as cruise director.
