The $30 million toe in the water

Rupert Everett, the 67-year-old actor, has finally turned his back on his wild younger years, saying he is 'less selfish'. His journey from a privileged upbringing to the heart of London's counterculture and eventually to Hollywood fame is a story of excess, ambition, and survival.

Everett attended a posh Catholic boarding school but dropped out at 16, yearning for something far removed from his upper-middle-class English roots. He hotfooted it to London, where he immersed himself in a world of drugs and sexual adventure.

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Everett's big break came at 22 when he played Colin Firth's character's lover in the 1984 film Another Country. The role made him a star and seemed to herald a major Hollywood future. He went on to appear in films like Dance With a Stranger and, most famously, as Julia Roberts' gay best friend in the 1997 smash My Best Friend's Wedding, cementing his status as a household name.

However, success often brought its own brand of chaos. After returning to London,he starred in a production of Noel Coward's The Vortex, a play about drug abuse. He also nursed a bitter, 20-year feud with his Another Country co-star Colin Firth, whom he called boring.

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Everett's most explosive revelations , however, came through his memoirs. in Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006) and Vanished Years (2012), he let loose with acerbic put-downs of public figures. He described Alistair Campbell as having 'a big knobbly nose that was made for aggression or at least cunnilingus' and Alan Sugar as possessing 'that blunt insolence peculiar to all barrow-boy billionaires'. The books also contained deeply personal admissions.

He wrote about discovering that his then-boyfriend had been diagnosed with HIV and simply walking away because he couldn't cope . 'At the time,a lot of people like him got HIV and died but for a long time you couldn't really test for the disease,' he explained.

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Everett's recollections of the AIDS crisis were harrowing. 'I recalled how people would treat me during the AIDs pandemic, revealing gay people's plates were taken away to wash separately,' he said, highlighting the stigma faced by the gay community.

These memoirs forced the publlic to confront just how badly behaved he had been. In recent years, Everett has moderated his lifestyle. He told The Herald, 'My wild days of sex and drugs and being mates with Madonna are over .'

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Everett's story is one of transformation, from the reckless prodigy who wanted to 'die young' to a seasoned performer who has lived to tell the tale, warts and all.

His journey serves as a reminder that even the most tumultuous lives can be redeemed through reflection and a willingness to learn from past mistakes.