But the southern California evangelist, whose events have drawn some four million people worldwide since 1990, wanted to tell his story to give anyone living a less-than-perfect life hope that there is redemption.
"Lost Boy: The Documentary" made its national television debut in the US on Thursday. Since the documentary premiered via webcast last month, the evangelist and megachurch pastor has been on tour to show the film and testify how God intervened in the midst of his dysfunctional childhood.
"My life should have been a complete disaster," Laurie said in a sermon earlier this year at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. "I could've ended up in a lot of places but God intervened and changed my life.
"God can take bad things and turn them into good things."
Laurie grew up with five different stepfathers. His mother, a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, went through seven marriages and would stay out most of the time, partying and getting drunk. Laurie was conceived out of wedlock and discovered, in his forties, that he was the product of a one-night stand.
Most of his life, he believed his father was the first man his mother married. With no one to call "dad" and his mother never at home, Laurie questioned his existence.
"When you find out you're illegitimate, that you weren't planned, that's kind of disconcerting," he said. "You ask yourself 'Was I really meant to be? Was I a mistake? Is my life an accident? Or does God have a plan for me despite my rather inauspicious beginnings?'"
