How Rob Lowe’s son fought the same addiction demons dad did — and won
Yesterday, I wrote about how the famously sober Rob Lowe maintains his impressive physique and youthful appearance at age 59.
Yes, I’m sure avoiding alcohol is a huge part of it, but my piece was more focused on his diet and exercise.
It was part of a longer feature in Men’s Health magazine, however, one that revealed Lowe’s son — 27-year-old John Owen Lowe — also struggled with addiction in his teens and early 20s just like Rob did.
You can tell they have a great relationship now, full of love and honesty and jokes. In fact, the two are co-creators, co-executive producers, co-writers and the stars of a new show on Netflix called Unstable about a father and son duo.
It would be easy (and lazy) to make accusations that the son is just a Hollywood beneficiary of his father’s fame, but children of celebrities also have to deal with a lot of bizarre things we don’t.
Take, for example, the anecdote about John Owen’s junior high friends revealing to him that his dad had a very famous sex tape.
Think back to when you were a pre-teen or teenager and how hard things were back then.
Now throw in jarring experiences like surprise sex tape references and the specter of trying to live up to your famous parent’s accomplishments and it’s a recipe for disaster.
That’s what happened with John Owen Lowe.
Compensating
Here’s what he told Men’s Health magazine about the front he put on back then:
“I was so closed off and so out of touch with my emotions.
“I came off to people as this confident, probably cocky, self-absorbed extrovert. I loved to be the life of the party.
“The truth was, I was deeply insecure. I’d felt the pressure put on me as a young kid at a time when he doesn’t understand why people are talking about him or looking at him in a certain way.
“I was a scared little kid trapped in a teenager’s body.”
I feel this.
Although our lives are very different, I did touch recently on how I believe my childhood experiences set the stage for my struggles with alcohol later in life.
Added the young writer/actor:
“Many times I could have died.
“It makes me sad to think about. There’s a certain level of self-doubt, or uncomfortability with one’s self.
“The more insecure I grew, the more aggressively I used — to medicate.”
In a way, it’s no wonder John Owen developed a substance use disorder.
He came by it honestly — Rob Lowe has been sober for decades after fighting his own drug and alcohol addiction demons in his 20s.
Rejecting, then embracing, help
Rob and his wife did try to help their son.
As is typically the case, however, an addict has to want to be clean for himself before any outside help will have much effect.
Here’s how Men’s Health quotes John Owen describing his initial reaction to his parents throwing everything they could — doctors, rehab, counseling— at the problem:
“When I was at my lowest points, my parents were throwing their lifeline of recovery at me in a way that I was like, Ahhh, get away! It’s abrasive.
“It’s like I was drowning and they were slamming me on the head with the life raft. Because my feelings were that I didn’t matter, and a lot of that stemmed from having the dad that I had.
“Once I was treated as if my voice and opinion were valid, I was able to access a part of me that was scared and hiding.”
I understand the rationale for the Lowe parents’ reaction.
Nothing is more gutting than seeing your child suffer.
But he had to make the choice for himself, just as we all do.
Winning the battle
Fortunately, there’s a happy ending to this story.
If you check out the full, lengthy article, you’ll see father and son have a truly amazing relationship now and now, both sober, they are a picture of good health. John Owen is a burgeoning writer and actor in his own right at a still very young age.
It just goes to show what you can accomplish if you can beat booze before you even hit your 30s.
Congrats to the Lowe family. It seems like they have a really amazing thing going!
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