Robert Hepler, better known as Rob Lowe is an American film and television star. He got his fame after appearing in movies such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, St. Elmo ’s Fire, and the Austin Powers’ movies. Rob Lowe also was on The West Wing and is currently playing the character Chris Traeger on Parks and Recreation. Rob Lowe has been a famous actor since the early 80’s but more importantly he is a celebrity in recovery.
In 1988, Rob Lowe was involved in a sex scandal over a videotape of him having sex with two women. One of the women was 16 and the other was 22. They were filmed with Lowe right before the night of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta Georgia. Rob had asserted that he did not know that the second girl was underage and it was confirmed that the two had met at a bar. At the time, Rob was campaigning for Michael Dukakis. Another part of the tape was leaked at the same time as this and it showed Rob Lowe and his friend Justin Morritt, both having sex with a young American model named Jennifer in a hotel room in Paris.
Rob called his sex tape scandal the best thing that ever happened to him because it forced him to get help.
On May 10th, Rob Lowe who is now 49 celebrated 23 years of sobriety. Rob Lowe says his addictions were sex and alcohol. He does have a wife and he describes her as being his best friend and the opposite of an enabler. He credits his wife for helping him successfully battle his addiction. The thing about Rob Lowe was that he was absolutely ready for help when he went to rehab in his 20s.
Rob Lowe spoke with Piers Morgan about his positive experience with rehab while promoting his memoir in 2011.
“It was great. I loved it. Because I was ready. Problem is, people go into rehab and they’re not ready,” Lowe explained. “You want to get sober for your parents, you want to get sober for your job, you want to get sober for the cops, you want to get sober to protect your image. A lot of good reasons, by the way, but unfortunately, the only thing that works is that you have to want to get sober for you. So, I was ready. And so if they told me, ‘Hey, Lowe, you’ve got to go stand in the corner on your head,’ I would have done it. I was ready. And so if they told me, ‘Hey, Lowe, you’ve got to go stand in the corner on your head,’ I would have done it.”
He told Piers that he’s the type of person who just can’t one glass of wine, so he’s abstained from alcohol ever since “If I have a glass of wine, inevitably it’s two glasses of wine, it just begins. That’s how you know you’re one of us or you’re not.”
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