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Sunday, 24 August 2008

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Hugh Laurie: It's selfish to be depressed

The actor talks frankly about his feelings of despair

Hugh Laurie says it's wrong to feel sorry for yourself

House star Hugh Laurie has opened up about his lengthy battle with depression.

'I was a pain to have around, I was miserable and self-absorbed,' he admits. ‘It is selfish to be depressed and not try to do anything about it.’

Hugh, 49, has been haunted by feelings of despair since his teens and finally sought therapy in 1997 after an extra-marital affair.

The pain the relationship caused wife Jo - mum to his children Charlie, 19, Bill, 17, and Rebecca, 14 - spurred him on to examine the origin of his feelings.

Hugh was adored by his mother Patricia but she also suffered from mood swings.

'She would spend days, weeks, even months, nursing some grievance,' he tells Weekend. 'She was contemptuous of the goal of happiness.'

Now the actor feeds his discontent into his portrayal of alter ego Dr Gregory House, but Hugh hasn't quite quite thrown off his lingering aura of sadness.

‘There’s the Hugh who dances around and cracks jokes, tangos all over the place,' says friend Joely Richardson. 'And there’s the other side: tortured, dark.’

Claudia Lopes

Hugh Laurie performs at Netflix LIVE! summer concert in Los Angeles, August 2008.