The short answer is he doesn't know.

Hugh Laurie played Dr. Gregory House in Fox's long-running medical dramedy "House M.D." The character was supposed to be addicted to the painkiller Vicodin.

During an interview on the talk show "Ellen," she asked what he was taking and he said: "I honestly don't know. I think it's something to stop me from complaining. They told me at the beginning it's some sort of lactose or lactase, whatever the word is."

He said he asked the prop people once, and they said the pills were "basically chalk."

He admitted to being a bit doubtful, though. "Maybe when I leave the show, and no longer taking 40 of these a week, I'll start getting the jitters, and turn into some horrible cold turkey."

Of course, "House" has been off the air for four years now, and there's been no word of Laurie entering rehab, meaning either they weren't real or he took a few bottles to go.

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