One of the world’s most famous “cruise directors” wasn’t actually a cruise director at all. Julie McCoy was a beloved character on the hit TV series The Love Boat – a role that catapulted actress Lauren Tewes to near-household fame.
But behind the scenes, Tewes’ journey was far from plain sailing. A very public battle with drug addiction led to her sudden exit from the show, before she later made a comeback once she regained control of her life.
In this guide, we’ll dive into Lauren Tewes’ fascinating story, from her rise to stardom to the challenges she faced away from the cameras – and where she is now.
1. Lauren Tewes Played Julie McCoy
The Love Boat cruise director, Julie McCoy, was played by actress Lauren Tewes. Tewes had started getting serious work as an actress in 1974 but it was a guest spot on TV show Starsky & Hutch which got her spotted by Aaron Spelling, the producer of The Love Boat.
Tewes’ first big break in acting came for a Lipton Ice Tea commercial in 1974, so she had only been seriously acting for three years when she joined The Love Boat.
Indeed, she was only cast in the role the day before filming started on the third pilot episode – the story goes that she got the phone call telling her she had the part at 9 pm the night before, asking her to report on set at 6.30 am the next day!
Tewes held the role until 1984, when she was fired, although she later returned for one more episode in 1985 and reprised her role for the TV movies in a later season. She has fully reconciled with the show and often makes appearances for reunion interviews.
2. Her Name Is Not Pronounced “Te-wes”
Lauren Tewes pronounces her surname as “Tweeze”. Her full name is Cynthia Lauren Tewes, although she was billed as Lauren Tewes during her acting career. Today, in interviews, she is sometimes referred to as Cynthia and sometimes as Lauren.
She is best known as Lauren, though, and when Princess Cruises invited the actress onto a cruise to celebrate her 60th birthday, they made sure to wish “Lauren” a happy birthday on the big screens on the deck of the ship, although her cake was made out to “Julie”.
There is some confusion over the pronunciation of her surname and some people mistakenly say it as “Tooz”. She has confirmed that “Tweeze” is the correct way to say her name.
3. The Julie Character Was Replaced
The character of Julie McCoy was replaced by her sister, Judy McCoy, at the start of season 8. Judy McCoy was played by actress Patricia Klous, who had made her name in the CBS TV comedy-drama Flying High from 1978 to 1979.
Klous would remain with the series until the main seasons finished in 1986, with Lauren Tewes returning for a guest episode in 1985. When the TV specials began in 1986, Tewes had returned to the role, and Klous was not included.
Klous had actually already appeared on The Love Boat prior to her role as Judy McCoy. She guest-starred in episode 17 of season 5 and then appeared in a more prominent role in the first episode of season 7 as Laurie.
The character of Judy McCoy was often known for being frustrated as others on the show confused her with her sister Julie.
4. Julie Was Written Out of the Show Because of Tewes’ Struggles
On the show, the character of Julie McCoy was written out by saying she got married. But in reality, actress Lauren Tewes was fired from The Love Boat due to a cocaine addiction that had spiralled out of control.
Once Tewes was released from the show, she was able to get past her addiction and make a return, initially making a solo guest appearance and then fully returning for the TV movie specials.
Suggested read: The Love Boat Cast – Where Are They Now?
5. Tewes Did Become Addicted to Drugs, but Overcame It
Lauren Tewes developed a drug addiction during her time on The Love Boat, which ultimately led to her being released from the show. She later overcame her addiction, got clean and was able to return to the show.
Lauren Tewes’s cocaine addiction was quite the scandal at the time. In Tewes’ own words, despite the popularity of the drug at the time in Hollywood and TV, to her, it seemed like only she was being punished for her addiction. She admits that the addiction started in the late 1970s, well before she was fired from The Love Boat.
Tewes has since been interviewed about her addiction, where she laments the fact that the tag “former cocaine addict” seems to follow her around, even though she was able to make a return to the show once she had beaten her addiction.
6. Tewes Was Fired Due to Her Addiction
Julie McCoy left The Love Boat between seasons 7 and 8 in 1984. The character did not receive a farewell on the show as the actress playing her was fired in between seasons. Instead, the character’s absence was explained at the start of the first episode of the eighth season.
Considering how Julie, the cruise director, was such a popular role, the writers decided they had to replace her with a similar character, hence the introduction of her sister Judy McCoy. Thankfully for fans and for Tewes, Julie was able to return to the show later.
Tewes was also invited to make an appearance on a special ‘reunion’ episode of Love Boat: The Next Wave. This was a follow-up show that was made in 1998 and only lasted until 1999, taking place on the Sun Princess. The reunion episode saw several Love Boat cast members return.
Julie featured prominently in the episode, with the big reveal that the character had been in love with ‘Doc’ Adam Bricker, played by Bernie Kopell, all along and that he was also in love with her.
Thank god the character finally got a truly happy ending, considering everything she had been through!
7. The Character Was Written Off Without Tewes Appearing
Julie McCoy was written off The Love Boat at the start of season 8. She did not appear in the episode where her character was written off – instead, Captain Stubing, played by Gavin MacLeod, announces to the rest of the crew that Julie has left the ship after getting married.
Julie appeared in one more episode – episode 8 of season 9 – as a guest. She then made a full return to the show for the TV specials, where she announced that her marriage had ended and so she was returning to her job as cruise director.
8. The Story Used Was That Julie Got Married
Cruise director Julie did get married on The Love Boat, although fans don’t see the wedding happen. It happened between seasons 7 and 8, and the storyline is the reason that Lauren Tewes was written out of the show.
Fans would no doubt have been disappointed that such an important and popular character had a major event happen that they couldn’t watch, especially after Julie had been left at the altar in a previous episode.
As far as I can tell, it was never made clear who Julie McCoy had married, although fans often assume it was Marty Chenault – the producer who guest-starred in the second-last episode of season 7 before McCoy left the show, and a character that she had almost married once before.
There are some fans who say that the character of Vicki announced that Marty was the person that Julie married. However, with the latter seasons so rarely repeated and hard to find, this isn’t easy to confirm (source).
9. Julie Had Already Been Left at the Altar…
In the first episode of season 5, Julie McCoy was due to marry her fiancé, Tony, when the ship visited Australia, where he was working on an animal reserve. However, Tony left her at the altar, explaining in a letter to her that he was dying.
The plan for McCoy had been to marry Tony and move to Australia to work with him, but unfortunately, it turned out to be another failed relationship for the character. In a later episode, the crew returned to Australia, and Julie visited David, Tony’s brother.
David explained that Tony had passed away from his illness, and it was revealed that Julie had continued to send him letters.
10. Tewes Is Alive and Doing Well
Lauren Tewes is still alive, and she continues to work as an actress. She has also made appearances with other cast members from the show on various TV interviews to discuss her time on the show.
The actress – and the other cast members of the show – still have close ties to Princess Cruises, the company which helped make the show onboard one of its ships, Pacific Princess. Just watch this clip from an interview with Access Hollywood where the actors talk about how good the newest Princess Cruises ships are:
Tewes’s current relationship status is unknown, but she has been married three times. She married her first husband, John Wassel, in 1977, and they were divorced in 1982.
Her second marriage was to Paolo Nonnis, whom she married in 1985 during her recovery from her cocaine addiction. That marriage lasted 10 years before the divorce.
Her final marriage was to Robert Nadir – she married him in 1996 and they stayed together until his death in 2002 of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
11. Tewes Recently Celebrated Her 70th Birthday
The actress who played Julie McCoy on The Love Boat, Lauren Tewes, was born on 26th October 1953, and so in 2023, she celebrated her 70th birthday.
For her 60th birthday, she was honoured with a special event on a Princess Cruises ship where she was able to film some promotional material for the cruise line, enjoy video messages from other actors from the show, and share a huge cake dedicated to her character.
12. Tewes Has Returned to Acting
Lauren Tewes continues to work as an actor, with some of her most recent work being for the radio drama Murder and the Murdochs, which is a comedy-mystery series available on Imagination Theater radio.
Since leaving The Love Boat, Tewes continued to work as an actor. She made appearances in some of the biggest TV series of the 1980s, including My Two Dads, Murder, She Wrote, TJ Hooker, and Hunter.
She did get cast in a recurring role on the TV show The Fugitive, which ran from 2000 until 2001. She played a police detective in the show.
Lauren Tewes now balances her acting work with her other interests in food. She is believed to be a ‘cheese specialist’ who works with clients to order specialist cheeses, and a trained sous-chef since her time in culinary school in 2004. She actively works as a sous chef for a catering company based in Seattle when she is not acting.
13. Her Estimated Net Worth Is In the Millions
While it is impossible to confirm, most profiles of Lauren Tewes, the actress who played Julie McCoy on The Love Boat, say that she has a net worth of $2 million. This is a reasonable estimate based on her acting experience.
Understandably, most people do not publish their net worth, and it is kept private, since net worth is based on career earnings and assets owned.
However, Lauren Tewes’ net worth is consistently quoted as being $2 million and considering her TV roles, including The Love Boat and other shows, her 50-year career and the fact that she was able to overcome her drug addiction and return to work relatively quickly, would mean that figure is likely to be in the right ballpark.
Final Word
So, now you know what happened to Julie on The Love Boat. A character that always seemed to be at the heart of a new romance was portrayed by an actor going through a very difficult time, and it’s a testament to her that she was able to still become so popular with audiences at home.
It’s also a credit to Lauren Tewes that she was able to move past her drug addiction and continue her career, and hopefully, she will keep working as long as she wants to as an actor, and she can shake off the tag of “former cocaine addict” soon enough, if she hasn’t already.
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