Louis Theroux’s bad boy past – arrested, drug habit and large ‘Playboy stash’

Louis Theroux is one of the best-known documentary filmmakers in the world but many fans may not know that there’s a hidden past underneath his understated exterior

Bet you didn’t know Louis Theroux has been in trouble with police, once refused to appear for a scheduled court date and supports the legalisation of marijuana. On his birthday, Daily Star is taking a look back at the BBC legend’s unconventional past as he celebrates turning 56.

Earlier this year, the Guardian published a profile about the beloved documentarian: “He has joked that he trailed his highly prized older brother (the writer Marcel Theroux) like ‘an irrelevant bit of afterbirth’ – his words – and that ‘teasing’ was a big feature of the family dynamic.”

“There was also the ‘stash of Playboys’ (his father published stories in the magazine) and Theroux said he made liberal use of them – ‘it’s possible he thought I was reading his fiction’.”

The Guardian also reported that his father Paul’s “infidelities are no secret,” and there was “something of the ‘one-way monogamy’ in his parents’ marital set-up.” Louis wrote in his memoir: “My mother had a policy of being OK about sex on location when my dad was away and, to be fair, in the early days his trips could last as long as several months.”

“Eventually his relationships with other women became more consuming, and the strain too much for the marriage to bear. But, like most parents of that era, they were figuring it out as they went along.”

Later in life the BBC legend also used to live in New York with his ex-girlfriend, who he refers to using the alias Sarah throughout his memoirs, and smoked copious amounts of marijuana. The Guardian reported that this period in his life was “a time marked by staying in for days on end to smoke quantities of weed and watch videos hired from the store on the corner.”

The filmmaker has repeatedly expressed his support for legalising cannabis(Image: Netflix )

Louis once spoke to Vice about his past smoking habits: “I was basically a spliffer. That was my recreational intoxicant. Just relax a little bit and smoke a wee bifter, that was me. I’m in favour of legalising cannabis; I think, by most barometers, you’d have to say it’s less harmful than alcohol.”

He appeared on The Big Narstie Show back in 2020 and spoke about his love for Mary Jane, explaining that he understands the effects but is in full support of its legalisation: “I believe in legalisation and I observe the laws in California. I thought it was a duty I had to experiment a little bit, for the research that I’d been conducting as a teenager and producing some interesting results that will be in a forthcoming paper.”

When asked about whether there are any drawbacks of legalising marijuana, Louis acknowledged that the substance is “an intoxicant” and “has it’s downsides,” particularly related to mental health issues, but noted that “alcohol is legal” which “isn’t good for everyone”. He said: “You have to take all that on board. Basically, I support the legalisation, I think it would be positive.”

Mo Gilligan asked whether it was true that he once “got busted in America for smoking weed,” to which Louis replied: “I did, yeah. I’m not especially proud of it but in my 20s I was trying to buy some weed in Washington Square Park in Manhattan. All you need to imagine is me walking around and looking at various people to see a bit of eye contact, then: ‘$10 bag? $20 bag?’ I went round the corner and the police got out and said: ‘You’re under arrest, get in the van!'”

They made him empty out his pockets and Louis recalled: “It was more annoying than anything else because I’m like: ‘Great, now I’m going to have to go home, have a glass of wine.’ A few days went by and they gave me a court date and as it happened I was filming for a TV show,” before explaining that he rang them up and informed them he “won’t be there” as he was “out of town.”