Rob Lowe opened up about the transformative moments in his life that led him to abandon alcoholism in an interview with People set to release Friday.
The Hollywood icon was able to get sober 34 years ago but admitted a series of troubling events unfolded before he came to the realization that he needed to seek help, Lowe said his journey was a slow process that required self-reflection.
“Getting sober was an incremental decision,” he told People. “It’s baby steps until you’re ready. You can’t do it until you’re really ready.”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JULY 11: Rob Lowe attends the 2024 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 11, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Watching a Warren Beatty film acted as a “baby step” toward sobriety, Lowe said. He watched “Shampoo” with a great sense of reflection on what the film meant in relation to his own life.
“It’s a great movie, but at the end, he’s a bon vivant, charming playboy left with nothing,” Lowe told People. “It affected me tremendously and [was] the first glimmer of your conscience, your destiny, God, going, ‘Psst, pay attention to this.'”
Another low point in Lowe’s life that acted as a reminder he was spiraling out of control was the infamous sex tape scandal with two young women that happened around the time of the 1988 Democratic Convention.
Rob Lowe and Michael J Fox in Los Angeles, California in 1986. (Photo by Walter McBride/Corbis via Getty Images)
“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,” he said.
The famous actor went on to describe the most devastating moment that pulled at him enough to make him see the depths of his addiction more clearly.
“But the thing that really changed me was not being able to show up for my family and myself.”
He described not being able to rise to the occasion when his mother was frantically trying to reach him to share devastating news.
“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,” Lowe told People.
SANTA BARBARA, CA – JULY 4: Rob Lowe is seen on July 4, 2024 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by MEGA/GC Images) Getty Images
“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.
He admitted to ignoring the calls and emotional pleas from his mother, turning to tequila instead.
“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 said.
Lowe entered rehab at Sierra Tucson in 1990 and has maintained his sobriety since then. (RELATED: Robe Lowe Recalls Blacking Out On Hotel Floor After Being Hit By Tom Cruise)
He said by that time, he was “so ready” to put his troubled past behind him.
“It was relieving, and it was scary, [but] I learned the tools to change your life if you have the self-honesty to do it.”
