Wondery Plus subscribers can binge the newest season of Even the Rich before anyone else.Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
So Arisha, earlier today I asked you if you knew anything about the Brat Pack and you said the Frank Sinatra group.
I mean, once I clarified who you were talking about, I did know some things.
Sure, of course.You didn't say anything, but sure.Well, but today we are talking about an OG Brat Packer.He's an 80s heartthrob that's aged like fine wine.I'm talking, of course, about the one and only Mr. Rob Lowe.
It's a stormy winter day in 1982, and 17-year-old Rob Lowe is jogging through a downpour toward the biggest audition of his life.At this point in his acting career, he's had some minor success.He did a short-lived ABC sitcom, a Carl's Jr.
commercial with L.A.News caster Regis Philbin, and a few ABC after-school specials.But he's having trouble breaking into films and getting the parts the other actors his age are getting.
Recently, he started to lose hope and told his agents he's getting ready to throw in the towel and go to Gasp College.Oh, how awful. I know.Honestly, though, how awful?Yes.
But they've gotten Rob an audition for a new film that's in the works called The Outsiders.His agents are convinced it's gonna be big.Rob has already been through three rounds of auditions, but today, this cold, rainy-ass day, is huge.
He'll be reading for the director himself, Francis Ford Coppola.No biggie. Rob quickly realized that this will not be the typical low-key office reading he'd expected.It looks more like a cattle call, with a shitload of cattle.
Dozens of actors are waiting outside the soundstage, crowding under an overhang trying to stay dry.Some faces he recognizes.They're already famous.And another is actually a friend.
Many are dressed like the greasers they're auditioning to play, and most of them look a lot older than him, as if auditioning for Francis Ford Coppola isn't intimidating enough.
The stage doors open, and a group of actors exit with absolutely zero hope in their eyes.Now it's Rob's turn.He walks through the stage doors and into the darkness.He knows he's gonna have to do more than just nail his scenes to make an impression.
Today, he's gonna have to kill it.
And from the team behind American History Tellers comes a new book, The Hidden History of the White House.
Each chapter will bring you inside the fierce power struggles, intimate moments, and shocking scandals that shaped our nation, from the War of 1812 to Watergate.Available now wherever you get your books.
Hey, this is Nick.And this is Jack.And we just launched a brand new podcast called The Best Idea Yet.You may have heard of it.It's all about the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with.
Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
From Wondery, I'm Brooke Ziffrin.And I'm Arisha Skidmore-Williams.And this is Even the Rich, where we bring you the true, fascinating, and sometimes shocking stories of some of the world's most famous people.
It's a show about fame and fortune, and how those who have it, got it.It's also about how the rich are just like us, because even the rich have big dreams, big doubts, and struggle to find themselves.Even if it takes a leaked sex tape to do it.
Mm-hmm. This is Rob Lowe, outsider turned Hollywood insider. It's 1977, and 13-year-old Rob Lowe has just signed with his first agent.
He's living with his mom, Barbara, his brother, Chad, his half-brother, Micah, and his mom's soon-to-be third husband, Steve, in Point Dume, California, a cape off the coast of Malibu.
Barbara moved the boys west from Dayton, Ohio, after her second marriage ended in divorce.She doesn't actually move them to California to help Rob's career, but to escape Ohio's unhealthy winters.Uh, relatable.
Yeah, and she chose Point Dume because it had the best air quality in Southern California.Rob's sad to leave his friends, but excited about the possibilities that come with the move.
He's wanted to be an actor since he first saw a local production of Oliver when he was eight.Seems like it's a good geographical switch for a wannabe actor.But the move to Southern California hasn't brought him any closer to those dreams.
At least not yet. In fact, at Malibu Park Junior High, he's learned that it's uncool to want to be an actor.Surfers and volleyball players are the popular kids.
But he still manages to make a few friends and meet a few fellow aspiring actors, like brothers Chris and Sean Penn, and Emilio Estevez and his brother Carlos, who was, of course, known as Charlie.Charlie.And who is now known as Charlie Sheen.
I mean, thank God everyone else wanted to get into volleyball and the other sports.
Because they wouldn't stand a chance up against these people.
Yeah.So they make home movies together with Chris's 8mm camera, and Rob suffers for his art.Literally.So while filming a scene for their take on the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, Rob jumps off the roof of a barn backwards.
Now, the idea is that in editing, they'll reverse the shot and make it look like he's jumping up onto the roof.
There are a lot of grand ideas for editing, I will say.Yeah.
I mean, it's it's a cool idea, but he breaks his ankle.Of course.
Honestly, I would have expected worse.I know.
Like he lucked out off the roof.Yeah. And it's fun to make these little movies, but Rob isn't content with this guerrilla, zero-budget filmmaking.
He wants to work his way into the big leagues, and he hopes his agent will be the key to making that all happen.She's part of a small agency, but Hey, it's something.So Rob gets into a routine.
He takes the bus to Hollywood after school, crutches and all, to audition for anything he can.Mostly extra and background work.Sadly, that's where we all have to start.And to audition for it?That's even harder.Yeah.
Well, I'm using the word audition very loosely because the casting people basically just take his photo and then send him home.Yeah.
But he does finally land a gig. It's a commercial for the burger chain Carl's Jr.Rob even gets a line.After he bites into a burger, he shouts, His co-star, Regis Philbin, from the local news at this point, has the same line.
Unfortunately, nobody gives Rob the pro tip that when you're filming anything that involves eating food, you shouldn't eat and swallow it.So after four hours of takes, he's sick to his stomach.He's really suffering for the art.Wow.
I'm surprised he lasted four hours.I know.It's that young metabolism, you know?
But to rob the gastrointestinal distress is a small price to pay, because the commercial runs for a good part of 1979 and even earns him a little bit of street cred with the surfers at school.
So when they see him in the hallways, they shout, I've got taste. Well, he's made it.Yep.The surfers like you.You're in.Yeah.That summer, while he's visiting his dad in Ohio, Rob gets a call from his agent.
There's an open audition for a new sitcom called A New Kind of Family.It's about two single moms who decide to try living together after a slimy real estate agent leases them both the same house, which sounds actually like a really fun show.
I want to find it and watch it.I know. Yeah.They're looking to cast four kids.So Rob hops on a plane back to L.A.and he prepares for his first major audition.This will be different than his burger commercial.He'll actually have to perform a scene.
For him to prepare, they send him a scene from an episode of Happy Days where Ritchie Cunningham drinks a malt with the Fonz.Rob will be playing the Ritchie part. He digs in and studies his lines nonstop.And it pays off.
He aces the audition and walks away with his first real acting job as a principal cast member.At 15 years old.Oh.And it's on a network sitcom, no less.I know.This guy's lucky.Yeah.
So A New Kind of Family premieres in September of 1979, airing opposite the very popular CBS show 60 Minutes.So it struggles to pull in decent ratings.But while the show is having trouble finding fans, Rob is not.
The teeny boppers understandably love him.Now after the show premieres, he gets a ton of fan mail.And he has an autograph signing event at the Riverside Fairgrounds in California. The producers hope this will boost the show's ratings.
This is where Rob gets his first real taste of stardom.He's mobbed on the way out by a pack of rabid teenage girls.They tug at his arms, they pull his hair, they grab his shoelaces.Okay.They're all the way down on the ground for this guy.I know.
They don't even know his middle name, probably.But then, after only six episodes, the show goes on a creative hiatus. And while it's being retooled, Rob has his first day at Santa Monica High.
And the reception he gets is nothing like the one he got from those teenage girls at the fairgrounds.People actually don't treat him any differently at school.And truth be told, he's kind of relieved that he's just like any other incoming sophomore.
It'd be nice to get both.You get the fame, but you also get to be a regular person.Yeah, that would be nice.
When a new kind of family returns from its hiatus, Rob is surprised to find out that new actors have been cast to play the other family.And the new casting does not help.The show's canceled four episodes after the reboot.
After the show gets the axe, one of the new actors tells Rob she's quitting acting and going into the family music business.Arisha, do you want to guess which former ETR subject this was?Oh!The family music business.
The family music business.Well, she'd have to be around the same age as Rob Lowe.So, ah, I wish you could give me multiple choice.Whitney Houston?
No.Janet Jackson.Family music business.Ever heard of the Jacksons?
Okay.Now, back at Santa Monica High, Rob has to deal with the transition from being a working actor to having to take driver's ed with a bunch of surfer dudes.It's a major adjustment for him.And things at home aren't easy either.
His mom spends a lot of time in bed.She's now married to Steve, who is a doctor and allergy specialist. They both think she's sick from exposure to pretty much everything.Smog, mold, air conditioning, paint, plastics, and perfume.
All of that chucks out.Which, yeah.I mean, yeah.Yeah.But she's been spending more and more time alone.Even when she's there physically, she's usually distracted.Money's tight, too.So Rob works as a busboy at a restaurant called Nantucket Light.
He gets recognized occasionally, and people ask him to sign autographs while he busses tables. This doesn't really go over well with management, so they fire him.
Are they stupid?Why wouldn't you just start advertising that you have this guy that'll sign autographs if you buy a meal?
Yeah.Well, he was also stealing mud pies, so lock him up.
It's an even trade-off.Come on.
Yeah.There is a positive development, though. he gets poached by a bigger talent agency.
They set him up with his first movie auditions and get him a holding deal with ABC, which leads to roles in a few ABC after-school specials, including one called Schoolboy Father.
What the heck is the matter with you?Farley knows you've been gone.Sorry.I, uh, had to go to the hospital.Hospital?What hospital?What happened?She never even told me she was gonna have a baby.You want to start over again?What baby?Whose baby? Mine.
Wow.Didn't see that coming.I thought this was going to be drugs.I was like, it's going to be one of those things.I know.I always assume drugs also.Yeah.He looks like, or I guess Zac Efron looks like him.Like I get a Zac Efron vibe.
Well, he's got these TV movies, but when it comes to theatrical films, he can't even get past the first round of auditions for roles he thinks he's perfect for. Meanwhile, as Rob struggles, his friends are thriving.
Emilio Estevez is auditioning for some great parts.Sean Penn is filming Fast Times at Ridgemont High.His non-acting high school friends are picking out colleges.And Rob wonders if maybe his showbiz dreams are more like an unattainable fantasy.
So in 1981, he tells his agents that he's done with acting and that he'll be attending college in the fall.But then, just after Christmas, his agent calls.
They want to know if he's open to giving it one more try because they got him a reading for a film based on the hit young adult book, The Outsiders.If he wants it, of course.And he does, obviously.
So he meets with the casting director, Janet Hershenson, and then reads for the film's producer, Fred Roos.In his casting days, Fred discovered the likes of Harrison Ford, Ron Howard, Diane Keaton, and Al Pacino.OK.Star maker.Stacked.Yeah.Yep.
Star finder.Yeah. After Rob reads for him, Roos writes in his notes, This guy loves the word very.Thank God he's not a writer. I'll say that.
Yeah, he makes the stars.He doesn't write for them.
Right.Rob does enough to get in the mix.After three rounds of auditions, he's asked to show up at Soundstage 5 at Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios in Hollywood to read for Coppola himself.
Rob's auditioning for the role of Soda Pop Curtis, one of the three brothers at the core of the film.He reads his five-page scene so many times that it's burned into his brain.But he's never seen an audition like this one before.
The actors sit in a circle, waiting to be called to the middle of the room, where they audition with and in front of each other. A camera records everything.The soundstage is dark except for a single spotlight that shines on the ones reading.
And to top it all off, Coppola asks people to switch roles and read ones that they didn't even prepare for.It's a very intimidating experience. That's like my Wayfair commercial.Your Wayfair commercial?
Remember I auditioned for Wayfair?No.Yes.Arisha.And the one that I auditioned for, we got in and they were like, so we're gonna have everyone do other roles too.That's so stupid.Yeah, it's stupid.
Well, this audition, I will say, is very star-studded.It's got a bunch of up-and-comers.Just like my Wayfair audition.Yeah. There's Rob's friend, Emilio Estevez, who's clearly just everywhere Rob is.A yet-to-be-discovered Tom Cruise.Oh my God.
Early career Dennis Quaid and Happy Days star Scott Baio.Just to name a few.Oh my gosh.This is the golden age, man.Not really, but close.What a time.Yeah.
When Rob's name is finally called to read with actors John Loughlin and then an unknown C. Thomas Howell, he brings his A-game.He boldly puts down his script and performs his big, climactic, emotional scene from memory.
And when it's time for him to break down, he brings the tears.When he's done, his scene partners hold him as he sobs. Francis is like, all right, come on, buddy, wrap it up.Enough holding, enough, yeah.A few weeks later, his agent calls.
Rob doesn't have the part yet, but he's still in the running.Next step is that he flies to New York for a screen test, as do Emilio and Tom Cruise.Rob's scene partner, 15-year-old C. Thomas Howell, gets a callback too.
They'll all be reading with new actors, and not just any actors, New York actors, the big leagues. Like teen heartthrob Matt Dillon and Ralph Macchio, who are rumored to have already locked up their roles.But Rob hasn't.
So he'll have to crush his breakdown scene again.And he does.A couple weeks later, he finally gets the news.He got the part.Hell yeah.Rob Lowe will be making his feature film debut in a Francis Ford Coppola film.
He'll be part of a cast that includes C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, and Patrick Swayze.Swayze is actually the old man of the group.He's... Geriatric?Yeah, he's a geriatric 25 at this point, so... God.
Even Leonardo would be like... Too old?Yeah. So they'll be shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the whole cast is staying at the Excelsior Hotel in downtown Tulsa.
And when they check in, the cast is split up by floor into greasers and soches, which are the two rival gangs in the movie.And they're treated very differently.The soches have more perks than the greasers.
They have a higher per diem, better rooms, and fancy leather binders for their scripts. But the greasers, Rob included, don't care.They're the leads.The cool ones.
And over the course of the shoot, they bond like brothers, drinking together and chasing girls.When it's time to film the scene that landed Rob the role of Soda Pop, he gives it his all.Maybe too much.
Coppola needs him to repeat the scene several times so he can get coverage from different camera angles. And having to do it over and over, Rob runs out of tears.
C. Thomas Howell has to take him aside and give him a pep talk to help him muster up some more for his close-up.Yeah.
Usually you just put on The Scientist by Coldplay and you're good to go.That or Fix You.
He actually was like, let me get this onion out of my pocket.I'll be ready to go in seconds. Yeah.Filming wraps in May of 1982, and a lot of the young actors feel like their lives and careers are about to change.
But until the film gets released, there's no way to know for sure.Before the film premieres for the rest of the world, Rob gets invited to a private screening at Universal Studios.The lights dim, and he settles in.
excited and a little nervous about what he's about to see.But shortly after the projectionist hits play, Rob senses something's wrong.What happened to the opening scenes they shot in Tulsa?And where's the introduction and backstory of his character?
His role has been cut down a lot.And I'm sure you remember his big emotional scene?Well, yeah.That dehydrated him for months?Mm-hmm.Well, all those tears were for nothing.That scene wound up on the cutting room floor.
They do, however, keep a nearly too racy scene of him getting out of the shower.Well, give the people what they want.
Derry, have you seen my DX shirt somewhere?
Hey, you gotta wear pants, too, buddy.I think there's a dollar store.
Jesus.Just a trip down time.Like, looking at everyone's faces, it reminds me just how much time passes.
I know.They're so young.They really are.And even though that scene is still in the movie, Rob's stunned and disappointed that no one got to see his big moment.He assumes it was cut because his performance wasn't good enough.
He also wonders why none of his fellow cast members, who already saw a screening, didn't prepare him for this.Ooh.Yeah, that's rough.Yeah.
The final cut of The Outsiders might be disappointing to Rob, but turns out it's not the end of the world because he's no longer a Hollywood outsider and he's about to go on a roll.
In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother.But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker.Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her.
And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List.A cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders.
This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger.And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy.
Follow Kill List on the Wandery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and at free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening.
There are plenty of heroes and heroines in American history whose courage and conviction led them to greatness.But there's also those who don't care who they hurt in their pursuit of happiness.
I have a new true crime history podcast called American Criminal hosted by my friend Jeremy Schwartz. And on it, you'll learn about the fraud, theft, murder, and worse that marks the dark side of the American dream.
Like in 1985, when pipe bombs rocked Salt Lake City to its core, leaving investigators scrambling to figure out how obscure Mormon documents were related to the explosions.
Or in 1920s Memphis, when a woman raised an empire by stealing babies and selling them on the black market, helping shape the modern adoption industry in the process.
and then there were the serial killer lovers who might have just lied their way into the history books.Listen to all of these stories and more.Go to AmericanCriminal.com or search for and follow American Criminal wherever you get your podcasts.
It's 1983, and 19-year-old Rob Lowe has not one, not two, but three films out.Okay.There's, of course, The Outsiders, which puts him on the map, regardless of how much screen time he wound up with.
There's also a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie called Thursday's Child, which scores Rob his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie.
And then there's the coming-of-age comedy called Class, where he acts opposite a new guy on the scene, Andrew McCarthy.
I want you to meet my roommate, Jonathan.Jonathan, this is my mom.Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Burroughs.
I mean, they slept together, right?That has to be what's... I've never seen this, but it looks like... Yeah, that's the vibe I'm getting, too.Pinky pink going on.
Yeah.And then, out of the blue, another opportunity.Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton drops out of the film adaptation of the novel The Hotel New Hampshire.
Now everyone wants to play the narrator John, but when Rob meets with the director Tony Richardson at his home, he's shocked to learn that even though he didn't audition for it, he's got the part and will be playing opposite a young Jodie Foster and the it girl at the time, Natasja Kinski, who I'm sure you know, Arisha.
Huge fan of N-kins, as we call her. Uh-huh.When he returns from filming in Montreal, Rob has trouble adjusting to life back at home.
With his non-acting friends away at college, he returns to the partying ways he got used to while shooting The Outsiders.Unfortunately, Class gets terrible reviews.But that doesn't really affect Rob.
He's hot enough at this point that his name is in the mix for pretty much any movie that's casting actors around his age. And luckily for him, Hollywood is seeing a wave of young adult-centric films.
He scores his first lead in 1984's Oxford Blues, but then loses out to newcomer Judd Nelson for the role of John Bender in one of my favorite movies of all time, The Breakfast Club.And the bad luck doesn't stop there.
He tears his meniscus and wrecks his knee while dancing in a screen test for Footloose.Same thing happened to me.
But it was playing indoor soccer.
Uh-huh.Sometimes your feet just get too loose, you know?Don't I know it.So in 1984, he also signs on to do a film about hockey called Youngblood that reunites him with fellow Outsiders castmate Patrick Swayze.
And he's so immersed in learning how to ice skate for the film that he doesn't even read the hot new script that's making the rounds, St.Elmo's Fire. The studio behind the film is Columbia Pictures, and they want Rob in this movie.
But the director, Joel Schumacher, isn't sold.When Rob finally does read the script, he's drawn to the character Billy Hicks, a saxophone-playing, smooth-talking Casanova who's part of a tight group of friends at the center of the movie.
Schumacher agrees to meet with Rob, but makes it clear beforehand that he doesn't see him as Billy the party boy.In fact, he thinks he might be better in the role of Alec, the Democrat-turned-Republican with political aspirations.
Now, Rob knows Schumacher's intentions, so he takes matters into his own hands.If Schumacher wants a bad boy, he's gonna give him one. Rob shows up to the meeting hungover and carrying a six-pack of Coronas.
And in the middle of the meeting, he pounds a beer and tells Schumacher all about his wild nights with a few semi-accurate embellishments for dramatic effect, of course.Of course.Narrative cohesiveness.Narrative cohesiveness, yeah.
Now, while he's in Schumacher's bathroom, relieving himself of some of that corona, Demi Moore walks in on him.
Now, we're not sure what she sees exactly, but she must have been impressed because we do know that they go on to date for a while after that.I mean, just looking at him is enough to be like, OK, I'll date him.I know.Exactly.
They also both go on to star in St.Elmo's Fire.
Honey, this isn't real. You know what it is?It's St.Elmo's fire.Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere.Sailors would guide entire journeys by it.But the joke was on them, there was no fire.There wasn't even a St.Elmo.
They made it up.They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when things got tough.Just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this.It's our time on the edge.
I'm just so tired, Billy.
I never thought I'd be so tired at 22.
I can't believe that's Demi Moore.I know.It looks like Jennifer Aniston a little bit.
Another movie I got to add to my list.I know.But playing Billie ends up being intoxicating for Rob.After growing up as the nerdy acting kid, he's finally getting a taste of what it's like to be an effortlessly cool, fun-loving ladies man.
And he likes it. Maybe too much.When the film's over, Rob doesn't let Billy go.He adopts his charm and supreme confidence like it's his own.And sometimes that confidence gets him into trouble.
Like when he joins Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson for a night on the town with a New York magazine writer who's actually profiling Emilio for a piece.They think they're having a fun, off-the-record evening.
Instead, they find themselves on the cover of New York Magazine on June 10, 1985, just weeks before the release of St.Elmo's Fire.The title of that article is Hollywood's Rat Pack.
I mean, this couldn't have been written better.You know, these kids that come up together and now they go on a night in the town with a journalist.Yeah. And they all looked at it as a bad thing at the time, you know?Of course they did.
Of course they did.Just like, come on, this made you guys.I know, but it just became so iconic.Yeah.It's one of those things you don't know until, yeah, it's happened.
I will say the article is a bit of a hatchet job.The writer calls the new generation, "...spoiled, vacuous, attention-seeking actors, long on ambition and fame but short on talent or humanity."Which, ouch.
Yeah, some of it I was like, I mean, OK, sure.Long on ambition.Some of that other stuff was like, OK, now you're just being mean.
Yeah.So when St.Elmo's Fire comes out, the critics are unimpressed.But it doesn't affect ticket sales at all.It dominates the summer of 1985.And 21-year-old Rob and his fellow Brat Packers are bigger stars than ever.
Meanwhile, Rob reads his best script yet.It's called Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and it's based on a play by David Mamet.
The name has to be changed because TV stations and newspapers won't advertise a film with the words sexual and perversity in the title, which is the whole title, so.
Yeah, it should just be a blank film.
Yeah, so it becomes About Last Night.Demi Moore, Elizabeth Perkins, and Jim Belushi fill out the cast, with Demi playing Rob's love interest.
Would you stop following me around?I don't want to have to start drinking in the suburbs.I love you.Let's not get corny, please.I love you.I'm going home.
Deb, wait.I cannot say this enough, but if it's raining, people need to declare their love.
Nothing is a more perfect backdrop.
Agree wholeheartedly.Yeah. Now, it's 1986, and for two summers in a row now, Rob has had a film in theaters that he's proud of.He's more creatively satisfied than he's ever been, but that high is short-lived.
Because after starring in a small indie film called Square Dance, which earns him his second Golden Globe nomination, Rob's in two major flops.
Illegally Yours is a romantic comedy by Peter Bogdanovich, who's directed some of the best films of the 70s, like Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show, and What's Up, Doc?I thought that was the What's Up, Doc guy.
That's one of my favorite movies.
Wow.Yes.Okay.Such a good film.All right.Well, your boy, Peter.P-Dog.Has recently had a little bit of a renaissance after directing Cher and Mask, and people are chomping at the bit to work with him again.
Rob sees the film as a strong follow-up to About Last Night, but he immediately sees big problems.
Bogdanovich wants to rewrite the whole script from scratch and adds a new role for his 18-year-old girlfriend Louise Stratton, who has never acted before.Liking him less and less now.Damn it.Yeah.
Now, Rob is a self-proclaimed people pleaser, so he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to blow up the production.But he's also pretty sure the film is heading for disaster.
So he turns to alcohol to cope, drinking almost every day after he leaves the set.And it turns out, Rob was right.At the first test screening in July 1987, just a few months after filming wraps, it's reported that about half the audience walks out.
Ooh.Including Bogdanovich. Yeah.That's a bad movie.That's bad.Yeah.The release date gets pushed from mid-summer to January of 1988.And that's not the last time it gets changed.The studio basically thinks it's unreleasable.
Eventually, they open the film in a few cities, but it gets destroyed by critics.Variety calls it embarrassingly unfunny.
Richard has always been crazy. He's always been crazy about Molly.They haven't seen each other since high school.That's Molly Gilbert.When I was in first grade, she was the prettiest sixth grader in the school.
But since Richard became a juror on a murder trial, they've begun to see rather a lot of each other.
I could be the only guy standing between Molly and 20 years of a bum rat.
That premise is delightful.As somebody who loves court and rom-coms, how could this have flopped?
This trailer is just hilarious.How many times are you guys going to say crazy?He's crazy.You guys drive that home.He's crazy. So the film basically goes straight to VHS.Oof.But that's not Rob's only box office bomb that spring.
He's also in the dark erotic thriller Masquerade, co-starring Meg Tilly, and a pre-Sex and the City Kim Cattrall.It's written by future Law and Order mogul Dick Wolf. I'm like, she's going to react to this.I just know it.Connections.Oh, I know.
My God.The movie films in the Hamptons.And since his childhood pal Charlie Sheen is filming Wall Street nearby, they spent a lot of time together partying.Of course. Rob considers the film decent work, but it's a disaster at the box office.
So in 1988, weighed down by two duds, Rob hits a dry spell.And as his work opportunities slow down, his partying ramps up.Rob's 24 now, and it's been months since he's had a decent movie offer.
So he agrees to be a part of the big, splashy opening number of the 1989 Oscars.Rob hopes that a high-profile appearance like this will get him back on people's radar. And it does, but definitely not in a good way.The concept is bizarre.
It features Rob and an actress dressed as Snow White singing lyrics that are supposed to be funny to the tune of Tina Turner's Proud Mary.
Isn't it exciting, Snow?Isn't it thrilling?It gets better.Meet your blind date, Rob Lowe.
Oh, Mr. Lowe, I'm such a fan.
Really?Well, I'm a big fan of yours, Snow, but you know, there's so much I'd like to know about you.
Used to work a lot for Walt Disney Starring in cartoons every night and day But she said goodbye to grumpy and sleepy Left the dwarves behind, came to town to stay
I don't know.I don't hate it.I mean, it's unhinged, but I'm just imagining if that happened in this day and age, how fun the hashtags and the memes would be coming off it.I think this is gold.
I know.Well, the whole thing lasts about 12 minutes.And it horrifies the A-list audience. So Snow White actually goes up to nominees in the audience like Sigourney Weaver, Glenn Close, Dustin Hoffman.
And sings to them.It's catastrophically bad.And if that's not enough, Disney threatens to sue the Academy because they never got permission to use the character of Snow White.So just a full on disaster, really, from start to finish.
The poor intern who pitched that idea will never work in Hollywood again.They were like, this is my big moment.They asked me.They're going to be blown away. Now, even though the Oscars debacle is not Rob's fault, he's guilty by association.
And it definitely doesn't help his image.So he tries to fill the void with good times.He spends a lot of nights at the Hard Rock Cafe and at his newly remodeled bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills.
He even starts to use MTV and C-SPAN as his own 1980s personal version of Tinder.So if he sees a girl in a music video that he likes, he calls the station to get her number. And the station's like, yeah, we don't care about anyone's safety.
Of course not.I mean, I don't know.I thought that was kind of cute until you.Well, because I would do the same thing, like call up the studio and be like, hey, that guy, Josh Hartnett, I think.Can I get his number?What a dream.Yeah, I guess so.
And then you call and then he can decide if he wants to talk to you or not.Well, thanks for the proof that you're a creep.
You're welcome.So finally, Rob reads a script he's actually excited about.A sexy thriller called Bad Influence.It's about a shy marketing analyst who meets a mysterious stranger and gets sucked into a more exciting but dangerous way of life.
Rob wants to play the shy guy, but screenwriter David Koepp, who would later go on to write massive hits like Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible, wants him to play the charming, twisted mystery man.Yeah, he saw his performance as shy guy.Not good.
Yeah, well Rob agrees to do it.And since Rob has approval over who they hire as his makeup artist, he's meeting the candidates when he sees a familiar face in the mix. Her name is Cheryl Burkoff.
She and Rob went on one blind date six years ago in 1983.The date went well, but they were both dealing with breakups and they weren't in the headspace to pursue anything serious.
But now they'll be working together on a daily basis and will get a second chance to get to know one another. But in May of 1989, just when it looks like things are coming together for Rob, a sex tape is leaked to a TV news station in Atlanta.
It's graphic, and the star of the tape is Rob Lowe.It was shot the previous summer when he was in Atlanta for the Democratic National Convention in support of presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
One night, Rob went out to Club Rio and then back to his room at the Atlanta Hilton with two women. one of whom was 16.Oh, no.The story spreads like wildfire.
More details are coming to light in the Rob Lowe sex tape saga as the investigation continues in Georgia.Garrett Glazer has that story in Atlanta.
Both the sex tape being reviewed by the district attorney and the civil suit against Rob Lowe concern his sexual encounter last summer in Atlanta with at least two women, one of them allegedly a 16-year-old minor.
Damn, I had no idea about any of this.I don't know how I didn't know that this happened.Yeah.Because you said sex tape and I was like, I'm thinking Kim Kardashian type sex tape situation.Right.Yeah.It's that.But then also even worse.
I know.The criminal case is resolved fairly quickly.By the end of July, the Fulton County D.A.agrees not to prosecute Rob for sexual exploitation of a minor.And that's because the age of consent in Georgia at the time is 14.
So sex with a 16-year-old isn't the problem, but the act of videotaping the sex is. All Rob needs to do is complete 20 hours of community service and stay out of trouble, quote unquote, for two years.
Well, relatively speaking, a slap on the wrist compared to the possible one hundred thousand dollar fine and 20 years behind bars he could have gotten.Like, I mean, that's literally that's like a little tap on the nose.
The tiniest slap.There's like no consequences.
I know.And about a year later, in August of 1990, Rob settles the civil suit filed against him by the 16-year-old's mother.The terms of the settlement aren't made public.
But when bad influence hits theaters in the spring of 1990, all anyone talks about is his sex tape.Including journalist Kurt Loder, who sat down with Rob for MTV News.
I think a lot of people probably tape sex at home on video.I have no doubt about it. But you got caught doing it, of course.I mean, did you feel, if that happened to me, I'm sure I'd want to crawl into a hole and die.
I mean, just, like, affect your life in a really severe way.
I have a hole in my house, if you'd like to ever use it.I dug it this summer.It's quite comfortable.
Now it doesn't help matters, or maybe it does, that part of the film's plot involves Rob's character broadcasting an adulterous sex tape to his new friend's soon-to-be in-laws.
The media fallout sends Rob into a depression, and he stays at home and self-medicates.
He's surprised to find that most of the friends he made working on campaigns and various shoots over the years are nowhere to be found now that he's the punchline of the week.
And he turns to his favorite distraction, fun, to avoid really thinking about the decisions that brought him here.Unfortunately for Rob, he still needs to fulfill his commitments for Bad Influence.He gets asked to promote the film in Australia.
As an incentive to do it, he's promised a vacation for two anywhere in the world. He decides to take Cheryl, the makeup artist he had a blind date with years before.
They become close while shooting Bad Influence, and eventually that closeness turns romantic. Now, nothing is official yet, but he does feel like she's one of the few people who stays by his side during the backlash.
Rob spends a bulk of the press tour in Australia, high on the pain pills he got back when he tore his meniscus in that Footloose screen test, while Cheryl tries to keep him out of too much trouble.
By the time they land in Fiji, Rob's destination of choice, he's out of pills and away from the bustle and pressure of L.A., so he starts to feel more like himself. It's a peaceful trip for the pair.
Rob tells Cheryl he loves her and she does the same.But this blissful relationship doesn't last long.After they return to L.A., as Cheryl packs for another film shoot on location, Rob goes out to a party.
And thanks to his fear of a new commitment and his love of tequila, he picks up another girl and brings her home.OK. Cheryl calls him around midnight to check in, and hears a girl laughing in the background.She doesn't ask for an explanation.
She just tells him they're better off as friends.And this isn't even the worst call he gets that day.A few hours later, Rob hears his mother's panicked voice on his answering machine.His grandfather had a heart attack.And he's in the hospital.
His mom needs his help, but he can't even pick up the phone.He's still trashed. He decides to finish the last of the tequila and go to sleep, convincing himself that when he wakes up, he'll be able to handle the emergency.
But before he can polish off the bottle, he sees himself in the bathroom mirror, drunk, dumped, and ignoring his mom's desperate pleas.This is his rock bottom.And there's no more denying it.He has to make a change.
It's May 10th, 1990, and at the age of 26, Rob makes a call that will change the rest of his life.
In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.It's a little-known British territory. called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.
There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still a virgin.It just happens to all of us.
I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.
When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, People will get away with what they can get away with.
In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction.Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
I'm Tristan Redmond, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts.
But when I discovered that my wife's great-grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom.
When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me, someone I'd never met, was visited by the ghost of a faceless woman.
So I started digging into the murder in my wife's family, and I unearthed family secrets nobody could have imagined. Ghost Story won Best Documentary Podcast at the 2024 AMBES and is a Best True Crime nominee at the British Podcast Awards 2024.
Ghost Story is now the first-ever Apple Podcast Series Essential.Each month, Apple Podcast editors spotlight one series that has captivated listeners with masterful storytelling, creative excellence, and a unique creative voice and vision.
To recognize Ghost Story being chosen as the first Series Essential, Wondery has made it ad-free for a limited time only on Apple Podcasts. If you haven't listened yet, head over to Apple Podcasts to hear for yourself.
It's been less than 48 hours since Rob called a drug and alcohol counselor whose card he's been keeping in his wallet for over a year.
Her name is Betty Wyman, and she recently worked with Drew Barrymore at the ASAP Family Treatment Center in Van Nuys, California.Betty doesn't waste any time.Rob's already on a plane to a rehab facility in the Red Rock Mountains of Arizona.
He's ready to do the work, but he's also scared to death. When Rob checks in, the reality hits him.He's stuck here for 30 days.He has no access to reading materials, television, or even caffeine.Just a month of solo therapy and discussion groups.
In these sessions, he talks about feeling abandoned by his father after his parents' divorce, about his mother's illness and unnatural obsession with health, and his complex relationship with fame. And he has some pretty big breakthroughs.
It turns out that while he's a people person, he's not a very big fan of small talk or surface-level connections without booze, which is part of the reason he turned to it so often.Because of Rob's commitment to rehab, Cheryl has a change of heart.
His dedication to putting in the work shows her that their relationship deserves a second chance. So every week, she flies in from her shoot in Seattle to see Rob for the one-hour visitors period.Wow.Which is very dedicated.That's love.I know.
And when Rob graduates after his four weeks are up, she's there to fly with him back to Los Angeles. As he leaves the treatment facility, he believes this first trip to rehab will also be his last.He's going to stay sober.And he does.
About a year later, on June 20th, 1991, a sober Rob proposes to Cheryl from a scenic spot on Mulholland Drive with a panoramic view of Los Angeles in the background.I know the exact spot.I do too, actually.She says yes and suggests a date.July 22nd.
As in next month. She's worried that if they push the wedding out too far, friends, family, or the press will start to interfere.And she's not wrong.
Rob's mom, Barbara, and a few of his friends have already expressed concerns about Cheryl's motives for wanting to marry him, and so quickly.
His mom eventually comes around, but he and Cheryl remove the, does anyone object to this union question from their vows just to be safe.I've noticed a lot of couples do that.Yeah, it's not very common anymore.
The big day arrives, and Rob is already running late when the phone rings.Lorne Michaels, the creator and producer of Saturday Night Live, is on the other end.He's been a fan of Rob since he hosted an episode of SNL last year in March of 1990.
Lorne wants him to come to dinner to discuss the Wayne's World movie tonight. Rob politely tells Lauren he can't because guests and caterers are already showing up for what they think is a wedding themed charity lunch in L.A.'s Hancock Park.
Celebrities love to do that.Rob and Cheryl didn't even tell the caterers about their plans so they can keep the party small and private.And it works perfectly.
Rob and Cheryl are married in front of a group of 30 family and friends and the paparazzi have no clue.Double happy ending.
Not only does Rob get married, but he also gets the Wayne's World gig, playing a sleazy producer who wants to buy the rights to Wayne's cable access show and steal his love interest at the same time.
The film is a surprise hit at the box office in 1992, and Rob's career regains some traction.
Two years later, in 1994, he stars in the TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand, and as Chris Farley's stepbrother and Tommy boy a year later.And in 1999, he teams up with Mike Myers again in Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Dr. Evil, if we could put aside the family squabbling for a moment, I think we could get down to some serious business here.Really?Yeah.
I don't like that insolent tone.
No, no, no, no.You want to run things here?No, not at all.
Finally, a movie of Rob Lowe's I've seen.
Yeah, yeah, who hasn't?This is classic.
And in the middle of it all, Rob is busy building a life with Cheryl.In the mid-90s, they welcome two baby boys, Matthew and John Owen, two years apart, and leave Los Angeles for the more peaceful vibes of Santa Barbara.
Rob tries his hand at writing and toys with the idea of directing.But acting beckons him once again.In 1998, his agents send over a script that's been on the shelf for a year.It's a pilot for a new show called The West Wing.You're shaking your head.
I know.It's just I've been waiting for this.Yeah.So Rob falls in love with the sharp, fast-paced scripts set in Washington, D.C.
The character of Sam Seaborn, the communications director at the White House, takes him back to his politically active years when he worked on campaigns. The world is vividly real, and the part feels like it was written just for him.
Rob's agents tell him that the producers aren't looking to cast big names, but are willing to let him read anyway, which is never the case.No one's ever like, we're looking for no names.Come on down and get a part.
I wish.Can you imagine Ryan Gosling going and be like, sorry, Ryan, we don't want a name like yours.You're too famous and hot.Sorry.
Yeah.Get out of here.But Rob wants this part.So he and Cheryl make the drive down to L.A.where he'll audition for a lot of key players, including writer-creator Aaron Sorkin, who will be reading the scene with him.
Like so many times before, Rob relies on his preparation and his instincts, and he nails it.When he finishes, the room erupts in laughter, and Sorkin grins.Who is he, Miranda Priestly? She'll nod if she likes you, that's how you'll know.
Yeah, a grin means the part's yours.Yeah.Now Rob gets the call on the ride home.Once again, his audition has gotten him the part.But the offer comes with a huge pay cut compared to his previous TV deals.At first, he turns it down.
And the producers start auditioning other actors for the role. But Rob has literally been dreaming about the West Wing.He's constantly thinking about it.
So when the studio offers him a slightly better deal, or at least a less shitty one, Rob takes it.It's a part he feels he's born to play.He signs the contract the day before they start shooting the pilot.
He knows the show is going to be a hit, and the scene he auditioned with works just as well when the cameras are rolling, even if Aaron Sorkin is not playing the role of Mallory this time.
I'm sorry to be rude, but are you a moron?
In this particular area, yes.
The 18th president was Ulysses S. Grant, and the Roosevelt Room was named for Theodore.
There's like a six-foot painting on the wall of Teddy Roosevelt.
I should have put two and two together.
The thing is, while there really are a great many things on which I can speak with authority, I'm not good at talking about the White House.
You're the White House Deputy Communications Director, and you're not good at talking about the White House?
I mean, just a phenomenal show.
He's good.I know.I've never seen this, but he's good in this.I should watch it.
I I don't know why I I've been sleeping on Rob Lowe.He is a solid actor.
He is.Yeah.So the day after the show premieres on NBC in September of 1999, Rob gets a 5 a.m.wake up call.It's the head of the network with good news. The ratings were solid, and the show continues to do well.
So well that both Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlett, and other West Wing cast members are able to renegotiate big raises.Almost everyone gets a pay hike.Except Rob.Despite three seasons of success with critics and viewers,
It's one of the many reasons he feels undervalued and unwelcome on the West Wing.And there are more.
For instance, a few days before they start to shoot, his manager gets a call saying they want to take Rob's name out of the top spot in the opening credits.But thankfully, that didn't happen.
Then there was the time Rob flew to DC to shoot a TV Guide cover in front of the White House with Martin Sheen.But as he's about to head to the shoot, he hears a knock on the door.
And the show's publicist tells him the cover has already been shot with another actor in his place. Or how even though he got an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2001, he really didn't see a bump in his character's airtime.
So in 2003, after four seasons, Rob decides to leave the West Wing and the character he loves so much.How did you feel about him leaving?
Well, I didn't realize all this was going on behind the scenes.You could tell when a character was getting ready to be written off because things seemed wonky, so I googled it to figure out what was going on.Disappointing.
And hearing how he was being treated, or how he felt he was being treated, I get it.But I think the show lacked without him.
But that is not the end of his story, of course, or his comeback.
In fact, he goes on to star in three more hit TV shows, ABC's Brothers and Sisters as Republican politician Robert McAllister, Showtime's Californication as the Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Nero, and, of course, in 2009... Parks and Recreation.
...he appears in NBC's Parks and Rec as Chris Traeger, the cheerful Indiana state auditor who ends up joining the Pawnee city government.
You wanted to see me. Good God, what the hell are you doing?Upside-down sit-ups.Great exercise, and it literally lets me see the world from a different perspective.Isn't there a men's gymnasium where you could do that?The world's my gymnasium, Ron.
I mean, I would absolutely hate Chris Trager in real life, but Rob Lowe nailed this character.
Yeah, for sure.He moves effortlessly between drama and comedy.Yeah.And through it all, he has his wife and two boys in Santa Barbara to come home to sober.Nowadays, Rob is as busy as ever.
For two seasons, he starred with his younger son, Jono and Lowe, on the Netflix show Unstable, which they actually co-created together.
What's so wrong with being more like me?There's enough you in the world already.You're like the sun.People get sucked into your orbit.Do you really think I'm like the sun?It helps things grow.You're a child.
As soon as I said sun, I knew I should have chosen something else.
So unfortunately, the show was not renewed by Netflix for a third season.But you can still catch him on Fox's hit 9-1-1 Lone Star, where he got to do a special emotional scene with his brother Chad, who's also an accomplished actor.
Chad did play one of the dads on Pretty Little Liars, most importantly.Yeah. And if that's not enough Rob for you, he's also become a bit of a go-to game show host for Fox, which is one of my favorite things about Rob.
So after hosting the show Mental Samurai, one of my favorites, they brought him back for The Floor, which you gotta watch, it's so good.I live for The Floor.And of course, you remember the Brat Pack, not the Frank Sinatra group.
Rob can also be seen in the new documentary Brats, directed by his class and St.Elmo's Fire co-star Andrew McCarthy.
When was the last time I actually saw you?
30 years ago.No, can't be.I think.
It turns out, some 40 years later, the breaths are all right. If you like Even the Rich, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. This is Rob Lowe, from outsider to Hollywood insider.
You can follow us, your hosts, on socials, at Aresha Skidmore-Williams and at Brooke Zifrin.And a reminder to check out our Even the Rich merch store.
From cropped hoodies and comfy joggers to phone cases and champagne flutes, you can find it all at eventherich.com.And be sure to tell your friends.
We use many sources when researching our stories, but we especially recommend the book Stories I Only Tell My Friends, an autobiography by Rob Lowe.I'm Brooke Sifrin.
And I'm Arisha Skidmore-Williams.Caitlin Plummer wrote this episode.Sound design by John Lloyd.Our associate producer is Liam Garrow.Our managing producer is Joe Florentino, and our senior managing producer is Callum Plews.
Our writer-producers are Jackie McDougall and Caitlin Plummer. Peter Johansen is our Senior Producer and Story Editor.And our Executive Producers are Tina Rubio, Dave Easton, Erin O'Flaherty, and Marsha Louis for Wondering.
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the stage for some of the most dramatic scenes in American history.
Inspired by the hit podcast, American History Tellers, Wondery and William Morrow present the new book, The Hidden History of the White House.
Each chapter will bring you inside the fierce power struggles, the world-altering decisions, and shocking scandals that have shaped our nation.
You'll be there when the very foundations of the White House are laid in 1792, and you'll watch as the British burn it down in 1814.
Then you'll hear the intimate conversations between FDR and Winston Churchill as they make plans to defeat Nazi forces in 1941.
And you'll be in the Situation Room when President Barack Obama approves the raid to bring down the most infamous terrorist in American history.
Order The Hidden History of the White House now in hardcover or digital edition wherever you get your books.
Sign in
