‘Better call Saul’ actor admits he cut own arm off, lied about being a veteran for 20yrs
A New Mexico-based actor has admitted to cutting his own arm off and posing as a wounded veteran for almost two decades to further his acting career and get better roles.
“I severed my hand with a Skil saw,” actor Todd LaTourrette told KOB4. “The state of mind was a psychotic episode.”
Having sawn off his own arm and cauterized the wound, LaTourrette lied about being a war veteran and, after doing so, began receiving a number of high-profile acting jobs, starring in TV shows such as ABC’s Better Call Saul, as well receiving parts on Manhattan (2015), Longmire (2014), A Bird of the Air (2011) as well as the George Clooney film The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009).
“I was dishonorable,” LaTourrette told KOB4. “I’m killing my career by doing this, if anyone thinks this was for personal edification, that’s not the case.”
LaTourette says he couldn’t live with the guilt of lying anymore, adding that he decided to come clean to encourage others living with mental illness to stay on their medication and avoid extreme psychotic episodes like the one he went through.
READ MORE: US veterans overwhelmingly want troops out of Afghanistan – poll
“The power is in your hands to take your medication in the morning, or at night. So that, this, this discourse of my life doesn’t need to necessarily be yours. Because, it happens quick … it happens quick,” LaTourrette concluded.
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