34 Years Sober: Actor Rob Lowe on Wake Up Call That Led to Sobriety

Rob Lowe attends the Global Down Syndrome Foundation's 15th Annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show in Denver, Colo., on Nov. 18, 2023. (Tom Cooper/Getty Images for Global Down Syndrome Foundation)

The road to sobriety for actor Rob Lowe was filled with self-reflection and challenges, but it wasn’t until a “final wake-up call” that he quit for good.

In an interview with People magazine this week, Lowe—now 34 years sober—recalled his lowest point, back in 1990 when his grandfather had a heart attack and he ignored his mother’s call.

“I remember like it was yesterday: My mom telling me [on the answering machine] to ‘pick up, pick up’ because my grandpa had had a heart attack. I couldn’t deal with it in the state I was in, and I needed to go to sleep to wake up so I could deal with it,” he said.

The 60-year-old said he automatically turned to tequila, adding that was one of the stand-out moments that led him to check into rehab later that year.

“Who doesn’t keep a bottle of Cuervo Gold by their bedside table? That was the final wake-up call. I’ve been sober ever since.”

Lowe made his acting debut at just 15-years-old on ABC’s short-lived sitcom “A New Kind of Family” and rose to fame in 1983 for his breakthrough movie role in “The Outsiders.”

He quickly became a heartthrob in Hollywood, landing other famous roles but also starting to drink at a young age. He notes some questionable decisions he made along the way that led to his sobriety, like when his sex-tape was leaked to the public.

“[The fallout] definitely changed my life at the time, and, in hindsight, I realized it was another step that led me to recovery and reevaluating my life … But the thing that really changed me was not being able to show up for my family and myself.”

The “Unstable” star (alongside his son, John Owen Lowe) says his decision to stop drinking was an “incremental” one. One can make baby steps, he said, but won’t achieve fundamental change until one is truly ready.

Another “baby step” instance for him was when he watched the 1975 movie “Shampoo.” The film, starring one of his heroes, “Warren Beatty,” follows the story of a lascivious hairdresser who runs into trouble when his habits clash with business.

“It’s a great movie, but at the end, he’s a bon vivant, charming playboy left with nothing … It affected me tremendously and [was] the first glimmer of your conscience, your destiny, God, going, ‘Psst, pay attention to this.’”

Upon entering rehab, Lowe had zero-doubts: he was done with drinking and was committed to moving past his partying phase in life.

“I always tell people: you can’t get sober ... I don’t care if it’s fentanyl, booze, drugs, coke, pot, gambling, overeating, sex addiction, whatever, you cannot stop for your job, your wife, your family, your parole officer, because you screwed something up. You only are going to stop when you’re ready, period,” he said.

Currently, the actor stars and serves as executive producer on the Fox show “9-1-1 Lonestar,” and regularly hosts his podcast “Literally! With Rob Lowe”.  He calls the podcast a “safe space” for guests from the world of entertainment, sports, music and culture to “really let their hair down” in wide ranging, “free-wheeling” conversations.