Actor Recalls Moment That Launched Over 30 Years of Sobriety
By Movieguide® Contributor
Actor Rob Lowe has been sober for more than 30 years now, but it took a family emergency for him to give up alcohol.
In 1990, Lowe’s grandfather had a heart attack, and when his mother called to tell him, he didn’t pick up.
“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,” Lowe told PEOPLE.
To help him sleep, Lowe would keep Tequila in his room.
“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,” he said.
That same year, Lowe decided it was time to go to rehab, and he was “so ready.”
“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,” Lowe explained. “I felt, ‘Oh, okay, I’m not alone. I’m not crazy.'”
“I didn’t have any doubts [and] I wasn’t like, well, maybe I’ll be sober for a little bit,” he continued. “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,” Lowe concluded.
Movieguide® previously reported on the actor’s sobriety:
Rob Lowe posted on his Instagram a photo of him in the ocean with the sunset behind him.
Lowe wrote, “33 years ago today I found recovery and a tribe that has sustained me on my incredible, grateful journey.”
“My life is full of love, family, God, opportunity, friends, work, dogs and fun,” he continued.
He concluded the post with encouragement for those struggling with addiction, “If you or someone you know is struggling with any form of addiction: hope and joy are waiting if you want it and are willing to work for it!”
Another reason for his sobriety? His family and fatherhood, which he calls “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Lowe married Sheryl Berkoff in 1991, and the two share sons Matthew, 30, and John Owen, 28.
“I mean, the notion of having such a long, great marriage, being sober 34 years, having two healthy, productive, amazing boys, going into my sixth decade, working at this level, I know how rare that is,” he said. “If I’d have gotten the wishes that I had wished for myself when I was younger, I would’ve sold myself short. I’m super grateful.”
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