Rob Lowe says threesome sex tape leak led to him getting sober: ‘Changed my life’

‘I realized it was another step that led me to recovery and reevaluating my life,’ actor says

Rob Lowe has reflected on the infamous leak of his 1988 sex tape, and how it changed his life for the better.

The 60-year-old actor, who’s been sober for more than 30 years, spoke candidly about how he quit drinking during an interview with People published on August 15. He acknowledged that the decision to get sober came over three decades ago, after his now-infamous sex tape, which featured him and two young women, was leaked to the public.

He recalled the scrutiny he faced after the incident and how it ultimately encouraged him to look at his life from a different perspective. “[The fallout] definitely changed my life at the time, and, in hindsight, I realized it was another step that led me to recovery and reevaluating my life,” Lowe said. “But the thing that really changed me was not being able to show up for my family and myself.”

After his rise to fame in the 1980s, Lowe entered his partying days and started drinking while still in his teens. In 1988, the night before the Democratic National Convention, he recorded the video of himself with two females, one of whom was 16, at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Although he was involved in a lawsuit with the mother of the 16-year-old, he made it clear that he did not know the girl was underage. To avoid criminal charges, he agreed to do 20 hours of community service, according to CBS News.

The Outsiders star has previously reflected on the fallout of the sex tape leak. During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in 2019, Lowe poked fun at how he “didn’t make any money off” a sex tape like “everybody else does now.” However, he then acknowledged how the incident encouraged him to get sober.

“It’s one of the reasons why I got sober. I woke up one day and I was like, ‘What am I doing with my life,’” Lowe explained. “I’m 29 years in and like people talk, but it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

He also explained how his sobriety journey shaped his relationship with his family, as he shares his now-adult children – Matthew, 31, and John, 29 – with his wife Sheryl Berkoff. “Sober got me married. I’ve been married 29 years and I have two great sons. I don’t think any of that happens without going through that scandal,” he said.

Actor Rob Lowe and wife Sheryl Berkoff attend LA premiere of Netflix’s ‘Unstable’ with sons Matthew Edward Lowe and John Owen Lowe (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in his interview with People, Lowe reflected on another low point in his life in 1990 – ignoring his mother’s phone call for help when his grandfather had a heart attack.

“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,” he explained, recalling how he turned to drinking tequila during the difficult moment.

He took that as his final sign to stop drinking. “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,” Lowe added.

The actor acknowledged that when he entered rehab, he was “so ready” to move on from his hard-partying days and it was “relieving” for him to do so.

“It was scary, [but] I learned the tools to change your life if you have the self-honesty to do it,” he said. “I felt, ‘Oh, okay, I’m not alone. I’m not crazy.’”

For Lowe, there was one important thing he kept in mind throughout his sobriety journey. “Getting sober was an incremental decision,” the St. Elmo’s Fire star said. “It’s baby steps until you’re ready. You can’t do it until you’re really, ready.”

If you or someone you know is suffering from alcohol addiction, you can confidentially call the national alcohol helpline Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 or visit the NHS website here for information about the programmes available to you.