Woody Harrelson never used to believe in love, that is, until he fell in love with his assistant.
Back in the 80's and 90's, Woody had a wild reputation as a womanizer, but after he met
the love of his life, everything changed.
Laura Louie stood by his side while he went through numerous tabloid scandals that threatened
to ruin his career.
Stay tuned, because we're going to take a deep dive into Woody's past, his traumatic
childhood with a father that was a paid killer, and how he came to finally believe in love.
While Woody Harrelson has murdered people in movies, his father did it for real.
Charles Harrelson was a hitman who worked for high-level mobsters, and he was in and
out of jail throughout Woody's childhood before being locked away for good in 1979 after murdering
a judge.
Woody visited his dad in jail from time to time and called him "one of the most articulate,
well-read, charming people I've ever known."
Charles was eventually sent to maximum-security prison after a failed escape attempt in the
early 90s, and he died behind bars in 2007 from a heart attack.
As a result of his father's dangerous career path, Woody has a particularly difficult childhood.
His mother was forced to raise Woody and his two brothers on her own after her husband
abandoned them for his career as a contracted killer.
Woody's father left their family when he was just seven years old, so he had no idea what
it was like to see a happy relationship between parents.
By the time his father was arrested for murder, Woody was eighteen years old.
The actor confessed, "I had a lot of anger, a lot of rage in my childhood."
The rage that he felt for most of his childhood carried through into his adulthood, and it
took a lot of time and a few mistakes along the way for him to be able to let go of that
anger.
Two years after his father was sent to prison, Woody experienced his first arrest.
A cop stopped him when he was about twenty years old for jaywalking.
The actor admitted that along with the rage that he felt, he also had disbelief in monogamy.
He explained, "I never believed in the concept of marriage.
I just never believed that it made any sense.
You end up, before you realize it, in a cage — maybe a very comfortable cage, but still
a cage — and you can't be the person you want."
Woody added that he "was incapable of long-term relationships."
and instead of dating, he simply slept "with whoever would have him."
However, everything changed after he met Laura Louie.
The actor said his opinion on monogamy, relationships, marriage, and the way he was living his life
was different because, as he explained it, "… I met my wife."
He added, "I would say that I have changed, and pretty late into my life.
I look back at myself and say, 'That guy is an asshole,' to be perfectly frank."
Before his relationship with Laura, Woody was described as a "serial womanizer."
In fact, in the late 1980s and early '90s, the actor was known as "Wicked Woody."
In 1985, he even tied the knot with Neil Simon's daughter, Nancy Simon.
But despite his marriage to Nancy, Woody continued his 'womanizing' ways.
His relationship with Nancy couldn't have been less of a romantic union, and when they
first got married, people initially thought it was a joke.
The couple was together for less than a year, and it took 10 months for the divorce to be
finalized in 1986.
It's safe to say that Woody's first marriage was nothing short of a disaster; if anything,
his divorce only fueled his bad behavior.
Two years later, Harrelson met Laura.
The actor recalled how they first met, "This media workshop came to see Cheers.
At some point, I was like, 'Hey, does anybody here have secretarial skills?
'Cause I could really use an assistant.'
And this young woman, Laura Louie, raised her hand."
After a meeting the following day and having "one of the greatest conversations he's ever
had," Woody hired Louie.
He joked, "She was so great that every other person in Cheers got an assistant after that."
Over the next three years, Laura worked as Woody's assistant.
As the pair worked closely together over the years, Woody began to realize that he had
feelings for her.
He confessed, "It was one of those things I wouldn't admit to myself.
I didn't want to be attracted to my amazing assistant."
But he was hesitant to admit anything to her, so instead, he kept quiet.
When Harrelson sent Laura to Africa over Christmas, he couldn't stop thinking about her, and he
knew that what he felt wasn't just a simple crush anymore.
He turned to his friends to ask for advice about whether he should follow through with
his feelings or not.
Unsurprisingly enough, all of them said no because they were all well aware of what his
track record was with women.
Despite his friend's warnings, Woody felt like he needed to tell the truth about how
he felt.
The next time he saw Laura, he serenaded her with a romantic song, and she responded by
saying, "Woody, I've been in love with you for the last two and a half years."
Even after the pair had confessed their feelings toward one another, Harrelson's behavior didn't
immediately change.
In 1992, he left her at the altar in Fiji when he flew off to party with friends in
Hawaii.
To the public, he referred to her as his "POSSLQ - Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
-" In 1993, the couple welcomed their first child
together, a daughter they named Deni Montana Harrelson.
Three years later, they welcomed their second daughter, Zoe Harrelson.
As it turned out, becoming a father didn't stop Woody from occasionally acting out.
Laura was well aware of Woody's bad boy reputation, so she knew exactly what she was getting into
when they started dating.
Things didn't get any easier as the couple's relationship progressed.
In fact, they were later faced with a foursome scandal.
In 2002, after a trip to a London bar, Harrelson had two women come up to him.
He explained, "They asked me, 'So you want to take a walk on the wild side?'
So I said, 'I guess I do.'
And then I hopped in the car, and another girl I didn't even know hopped in."
He added, "We went to my place, and one of the girls was a paparazzi or worked for them
... she got a photographer to come out."
Naturally, Woody quickly found himself in the middle of a tabloid scandal - and so did
Laura.
But while most women would have packed their bags and left, Laura did the exact opposite.
After she found out about the foursome, her response to Harrelson was, "That must be really
hard for you, to have this shit exposed."
While she certainly was still mad and heartbroken over the betrayal, Harrelson explained, "She
forgave me, and we're still together."
During an interview about his 2002 foursome scandal in London, Harrelson revealed that
there was more drama to that trip.
He confessed, "That same week, I went to this club and went to get in a taxi.
I was trying to pull out the ashtray, and it came out with this screeching …And then
I couldn't get it back in."
What resulted was an aggressive screaming match between Woody and the taxi driver.
It escalated so far that the driver wouldn't let him out of the car.
Eventually, he was able to get the door open and ran off, but by then, the driver had already
called the cops.
The next thing Woody knew, he was on the run from the police.
Harrelson was ultimately caught and arrested.
He admitted, "I went to jail.
Laura got me out.
It stayed with me because it was one of the worst nights of my life."
Woody and Laura found a way to work through the disastrous events of London together,
and in 2006, the couple proved their love was still going strong when they welcomed
their third daughter, Makani Harrelson.
In 2008, after almost twenty years together, the pair made things official by tying the
knot in Maui.
The wedding was intimate, and they only had a small group of family and friends join them
for the celebration.
Guests included Owen Wilson, Willie Nelson, and Sean Penn.
What's more, Alanis Morissette also sang at their ceremony.
However, Woody didn't want to spend a fortune on their wedding because he felt that "the
least expensive things can be the most personally rewarding."
In fact, their celebration cost a total of $500.
Yep, that's it.
As for the rings?
The actor said that they "were only about $300 each," and yet he considers his wedding
band one of his "most meaningful possessions."
Since then, "Wicked Woody" has been no more, and the actor is no longer living out his
wild womanizing ways.
Harrelson credits his wife for the change in his life and the huge impact she made on
who he is as a person.
He shared, "I frequently think of my situation.
Just having this family who has been so loving and so kind to me — like, more than I deserve,
maybe.
And in some ways I think that has mellowed me.
Maybe 'mellowed' isn't the right word, but it has softened those areas that were too
hard."
Sure enough, the actor swapped out the late-night parties with hobbies he probably would have
deemed too boring during his bachelor heydays, such as playing chess and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Woody moved his family to Hawaii, and the move did wonders for their lifestyle.
The actor explained that he now "eats only vegan raw organic, does a lot of yoga, has
a lot of friends."
He added, "It's a really beautiful place."
Harrelson clearly loves his new, slower life, sharing, "We mostly grow our own food ... I
played a farmer for so long it's ironic I finally got around to it."
That being said, he still makes time for his family, whether that means taking them on
set with him or making time to travel the world together.
While Harrelson undoubtedly enjoyed his time as a wild bachelor, it seems like being with
his kids and wife, Laura, is what suits him best.
He explained, "Before, I'd been gregarious – someone who enjoyed the company of others
… "I went through a period of arrogance and having my head up my ass ... luckily,
this life and my family – my wife and my daughters they kind of loved me into a better
human being."
There's no doubt that Laura has stuck by Woody during his lowest moments, and after all the
drama they've had to go through, the actor came out a completely changed man.
His traumatic childhood, along with the loss of his father, made him feel like there was
no one out there he could love.
But today, Woody chooses to spend time with his family over a wild night out, which only
goes to show how much his loved ones mean to him.
If their love story can teach us anything, it's that meeting the right person has the
ability to bring the best out in a person.