Rob Lowe spent years coming to terms with his “unease” over fame.
The 60-year-old actor, was shot into the spotlight as a hard-partying Hollywood ‘IT boy’ in the 1980s thanks to his roles in films including ‘St Elmo’s Fire’, and has now admitted even though he enjoyed being globally recognisable, it wasn’t until he went into recovery treatment for his drink issues he realised the impact it had on his life.
Rob, who is 34 years sober, told People: “The unease I felt with it I could never put my finger on until many years later and a lot of self-reflection, which came with getting into recovery.
“I was intuitive enough in those days to sense the disconnect between me, who I was, the work I was doing, that was out there in the public and making this phenomenon, the hysteria, happen.”
Rob admitted he thinks the insanity of his fame is far eclipsed by what singer Taylor Swift, 34, deals with.
He said: “I watch that, and it’s what I went through on gazillion steroids.”
Rob recently revealed he got sober after he needed a swig of tequila to answer his mother’s call about his grandfather suffering a heart attack.
He told People in August: “Getting sober was an incremental decision. It’s baby steps until you’re ready. You can’t do it until you’re really ready.
“I remember (deciding to get sober) like it was yesterday – my mom telling me (on my 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.
“Who doesn’t keep a bottle of Cuervo Gold (tequila) by their bedside table? “That was the final wake-up call. I’ve been sober ever since.”
