THE TRUTH ABOUT ME Rob Lowe tells
The Hollywood star on living healthily – and the rumoured ‘West Wing’ reboot
With the recent deadly bushfires torching towns and making international headlines, US actor Rob Lowe says his heart goes out to Aussie communities struggling to rebuild their lives. “I’ve been following [the fires] and praying and posting on social media for you guys,” Lowe, 55, tells WHO. “I was just shattered to see what was going on.” The star of The West Wing has a soft spot for Australia, having spent time filming US miniseries, Salem’s Lot here in 2003.
Lowe likens the impact of our own bushfires to the devastating Malibu fires of 2018. “My childhood home burned down in a wildfire, so I feel you guys, big time,” he says. Lowe plays a firefighter in his latest TV series, 9-1-1: Lone Star, which he says has given him an appreciation for firefighters, calling them “real-life heroes”.
Here, Lowe, once part of the famed ‘Brat Pack’ group of ’80s actors, dishes on his Hollywood career, family and the health struggles that led him to change his lifestyle.
When you were starting out, did you feel pressure to be fit?
[The film] Youngblood was the first time I had to train professionally. It might have been my first time in the gym, other than when Tom Cruise used to drag me [to the gym] when we were making The Outsiders.
I didn’t like it at first, but then I broke through that barrier.
You’ve been open about your battle with alcohol. Why did you decide to get sober? For me, I just had the feeling of like a frog being slowly boiled alive in a pot, in that they never even know it’s happening to them. I was not the best version of myself with alcohol in my life. I stopped in 1990, and every good thing that’s happened to me since then you can draw a direct line to that decision. And the thing I never expected to happen is that now, in my mid-50s, what an advantage it is for me, just in terms of the lack of calories. I look at guys who come home and have a glass of wine every single night or maybe three or four on the weekend, and it’s just a math game, dude. It’s very hard to overcome [the calories] when you get into your 50s.
There are so many diets out there. You’re a spokesman for Atkins. Why?
First of all, for me, Atkins is not a diet. I’ve never had to diet, but as a lifestyle, it’s so easy in terms of what to think about. It’s about cutting those carbs way down and having healthy proteins and just minimising your sugars. You’re not having pasta all the time, not having breads. You have your steaks, chickens, eggs, cheeses and your vegies.
Do you have cheat days?
My grandfather ran a hamburger stand for 30 years. Do not get in the way of me and a hamburger or a milkshake. You’ve got to live your life and for me it’s about consistency over the long term. My downfall to this day is ice-cream. I think people think they have to be perfect and they don’t.
Your two sons, Matthew and John Owen, are doing well with their careers. How does that make you feel?
My eldest son [Matthew] just passed the California
Bar [exam]. And my youngest son is now a writer, writing for Ryan
Murphy. He’s the only one who’s followed in my footsteps. I could not be prouder of them and where they’re headed.
A West Wing reboot – could it happen?
Both Parks and Recreation and The West Wing are two of the most-requested shows to be rebooted and if
[the shows’ creators] ever figure it out, I would never ever get tired of playing those characters [Sam
Seaborn in The
West Wing and
Chris Traeger in
Parks and Recreation].
So, Mr Seaborn for
President?
That’s what President Bartlet [Martin Sheen] said in one episode and obviously I would love that version and it would all be up to [writer/creator] Aaron [Sorkin] in the end. Whatever version you think it will be with Aaron Sorkin, it won’t be that version. It will be something unexpected.
“I was not the best version of myself”