Rob Lowe on son John acting: 'I'm not letting him drop out of college'

By Alex Cramer

Rob Lowe has done a very good job at keeping his kids out of the spotlight – until now! “I’ve spent my entire life trying to keep my kids away from Hollywood,” he told HELLO! at The Grinder screening at Soho House in West Hollywood on June 30. “I feel like somebody who has been playing defense the entire game and now with ten seconds left on the clock, I’m letting them run wild.”

Photo: Getty Images

The 51-year-old is of course speaking about his son John joining him on the small screen in the new Fox comedy. The former Parks and Recreation star did have good reason to let his youngest son, who is currently enrolled at Stanford University, have a go at acting. “Really, it was spring break, they’re both away at college and this is my only way to be with them. I go ‘do you want to play this part? I think you’d be really good.’ So he read for the guys and he nailed it.”

But John shouldn’t get used to the spotlight just yet. “Well it’s like a one time thing… I’m not letting him drop out of college,” he mentioned. “No. He’s interning.”


In the new primetime show, Rob plays an actor who thinks his time as a lawyer on TV qualifies him to come home and run his family’s law firm. As soon as he read the script, he was hooked. He shared, “What I like about it is that it's the best part of inside baseball, without it being inside baseball.”

The Grinder also stars another familiar face – Fred Savage. The former Wonder Years star plays Rob’s brother Stewart, and he couldn’t have had nicer words to say about him. “He’s always been a great actor,” Rob said. “I’ve always been a fan. It’s good because it’s like so fresh. It’s like I feel like America already voted for him for President for life. We’ve already voted. It’s good. We love him.”

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