Featured Image Credit: Jason Mendez/Getty Images / NBC
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Gregory Robinson
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Rob Lowe says he didn’t have a good experience working on The West Wing and ‘felt very undervalued’.
The 59-year-old star discussed his time working on the hit NBC series and explained why walking away was ultimately the best decision.
Lowe starred in Aaron Sorkin’s political drama between 1999 and 2003 and said he tried to ‘make it work’.
“I felt very undervalued,” Lowe said during his appearance on Wednesday’s episode of Stitcher Studios’ Podcrushed podcast.
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“It happens in any workplace. You can be in an environment where people sandbag you, wanna see you fail, don’t appreciate you - whatever it is.”
The Californication actor continued: “Whenever I share my stories, people are like, ‘I will never share my own stories again’ because they would make your hair stand on end’.”
Lowe, who has two sons; Matthew Edward, 29, and John Owen, 27, said he wrote about some of his anecdotes from The West Wing in his 2011 memoir, Stories I Only Tell my Friends.
However, he then explained that he left some details out before sharing how his children inspired him to step away from The West Wing after four seasons.
“I purposely didn't share half of the other pens because it would make the people involved look so bad that I didn’t want to do it to them,” Lowe said about keeping some of his experiences private.
“I did not have a good experience and tried to make it work and tried to make it work and tried to make it work,” he emphasized.
The 9-1-1: Lone Star actor said that thinking about his children getting into unhealthy relationships when they were older inspired him to make a change.
“What happened was my kids were getting to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and taking it,” he said, comparing his relationship to The West Wing to dating the ‘popular girl in school.
“Everybody likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be great – all the things that people say about making The West Wing to me. ‘It’s so popular, it’s so amazing, it must be amazing' but I know what it’s like and if I couldn’t walk away from it then how could I empower my kids to walk away from it?
“I walked away from the most popular girl at school, but I also knew that it was super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing I ever did,” he said, explaining how he has ‘zero regrets’ about his decision.
UNILAD has contacted Warner Bros. for comment.
The West Wing continued for three more seasons after Lowe left the show and it concluded with its seventh and final season in 2006.
Lowe returned for two guest appearances in season seven.