Rob Lowe shocked many fans when he left NBC’s hit series The West Wing after four seasons, at the height of its popularity, and now the actor is opening up about why he made that decision.
Lowe, 59, played White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the lead of the show when it first debuted in 1999.
However, the show’s immense popularity ultimately lead to the network tinkering with the show extensively, leading to major changes to Seaborn’s character.
That ultimately lead to Lowe leaving the show after the fourth season, with series creator Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme leaving shortly thereafter, with the show running three more seasons until 2007.
Lowe appeared on Stitcher’s Podcrushed podcast last week, where he said that leaving the show was, ‘the best thing I ever did’ and comparing his time on the show to a, ‘super unhealthy relationship.’
Rob talks: Rob Lowe shocked many fans when he left NBC’s hit series The West Wing after four seasons, at the height of its popularity, and now the actor is opening up about why he made that decision
Rob as Sam: Lowe, 59, played White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the lead of the show when it first debuted in 1999
‘I felt very undervalued. 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,’ Lowe admitted.
‘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 teased.
The actor released a memoir entitled Stories I Only Tell My Friends, where he did share some tales from his time on The West Wing… though he admitted there were plenty he left out.
‘I purposely didn’t share half of the other ones because it would make the people involved look so bad that I didn’t want to do it to them,’ he said.
‘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,’ Lowe explained.
He revealed the final straw wasn’t a specific incident, though rather it had to do with his sons Matthew, 29, and John Owen, 27.
‘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,’ Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing to dating the ‘popular girl at school.’
‘Everybody likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be great — all the things that people would say about making The West Wing to me,’ Lowe said.
Undervalued: ‘I felt very undervalued. 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,’ Lowe admitted
Stories: ‘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 teased
Stories: The actor released a memoir entitled Stories I Only Tell My Friends, where he did share some tales from his time on The West Wing… though he admitted there were plenty he left out
Popular: ‘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,’ Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing to dating the ‘popular girl at school’
‘”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?’ Lowe explained.
‘I walked away from the most popular girl at school, but I also knew that it was a super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing I ever did,’ he said, adding he has, ‘zero regrets’ about his decision.
Lowe added, ‘What people forget is the minute I left, [creator] Aaron Sorkin left and then it wasn’t The West Wing anymore.’
‘It was ER in the White House, which is perfectly fine, but I’m not interested in that,’ he said, likely referring to John Wells taking over as showrunner for Sorkin, after spending a decade on ER.
