Rob Lowe and son John Owen have pursued passion projects in the entertainment industry together, but his son Matthew made it on to one of his dad’s most famous shows.
He didn’t catch the acting bug, though, and in fact, was “annoyed and uncomfortable” while filming scenes of “The West Wing” with his father.
Matthew admitted he was still a huge fan of the political drama as he joined his dad’s SiriusXM podcast, “Literally with Rob Lowe,”
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Rob Lowe’s son Matthew remembered working with his dad on “The West Wing.” (Getty Images)
Lowe appeared in the first four seasons of “The West Wing” as deputy White House communications director Sam Seaborn. He left the show in 2002 and Seaborn was written out of “The West Wing” with a run for Congress in California.
“I think actually I’m your biggest fan in the family of ‘The West Wing.’ I’ve seen it multiple times, the seasons. I’m in it,” Matthew said.
“You are in it. Oh, you are in it,” Rob said before Matthew added, “It’s my claim to fame. It’s the famous episode, right?”
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“Not only, Matthew, are you in ‘The West Wing,’ you are in, arguably, without a doubt, any ‘West Wing’ fan will tell you it’s in the top five ever made and it’s a lot of people’s favorite episode,” Rob assured his son. “The episode’s called ‘Noël,’ and it’s the episode Richard Schiff won his Emmy deservedly for. It’s a Christmas episode and there are carolers in one of the rooms of ‘The West Wing.’”
Matthew was only a child when he appeared in one Christmas episode of “The West Wing.” (Getty Images)
Matthew joked, “Don’t give it away too much. I want to see if the viewers can even figure out which one’s me,” before asking his dad how old he was when they filmed the episode.
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“Seven?” Rob guessed before Matthew jumped in with, “I’m really young. I have a vivid memory of that day.”
He added, “I remember being really, really annoyed and uncomfortable because I had to wear dress shoes, and they were really tight and being uncomfortable in dress shoes and that’s my little snippet memory of that day, and also playing chess with Martin Sheen.
“I mean, that’s a pretty cool memory. You got to play chess with President Bartlet,” Rob said.
Lowe starred as deputy White House communications director Sam Seaborn. (Getty Images)
Last year, the Brat Pack member admitted he stepped away from the role of a lifetime due to feeling “undervalued” while working on the series.
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“Whenever I talk to actors who complain about, you know, their relationships on their shows, it happens,” he explained during an appearance on Stitcher Studios’ “Podcrushed.” “It happens in any workplace. You could be in an environment where people sandbag you, want to see you fail, don’t appreciate you, whatever it is – and whenever I share my stories, people are like, ‘I will never share my own stories again.’”
He added, “They would make your hair stand up and there’s some of them I wrote. I shared some of them in my book, but 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.”
Martin Sheen portrayed President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet while Rob Lowe starred as the deputy communications director in “The West Wing.” (David Rose/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
At the time, Lowe’s exit was marketed as amicable and pinned on his character’s storyline fizzling out.
“So, I did not have a good experience,” he said on the podcast. “Tried to make it work and tried to make it work and tried to make it work, and then 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. She’s the popular girl, everybody likes her, she’s beautiful. It must be great. All the things that people would say about making ‘The West Wing’ to me.”
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“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 also reflected on the moment he left and how it affected him.
Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, and Allison Janney worked alongside Lowe on the award-winning series. (Photo by: Steve Schapiro/NBCU Photo Bank)
“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 noted.
Despite feeling “undervalued” on set, Lowe appeared in two episodes of the final season. He also joined the cast for an HBO special in 2020.
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Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.