Rob Lowe is giving the actual cause behind his sudden departure from The West Wing, evaluating the NBC present to a “tremendous unhealthy relationship.”
Lowe, 59, performed Sam Seaborn on the collection for 4 seasons earlier than abruptly leaving the present in 2003 after feeling “very undervalued,” he shared on the Wednesday, August 9, episode of the “Podcrushed” podcast.
“I walked away from the most well-liked lady at college,” he admitted, referring to the present’s success. “It was the perfect factor I ever did.”
Total, Lowe mentioned he “didn’t have an excellent expertise” on set, noting that at the beginning, he “tried to make it work” however his youngsters — Matthew, now 30, and John Owen, now 28 — whom he shares with spouse Sheryl Berkoff, helped him take the leap to depart the present.
“[They] have been attending to a sure age the place I might see them having first girlfriends and being in a relationship that was abusive and taking it,” Lowe recalled, evaluating the boys’ relationships to his expertise on the present. “However I do know what it’s like, and if I couldn’t stroll away from it, then how might I empower my youngsters to stroll away from it?”
Lowe assist individuals would inform him The West Wing was “so widespread” and “so wonderful,” however he now not needed to be part of it.
Whereas Lowe’s unhappiness clearly performed an element in the actual cause for his departure, his preliminary assertion spoke to different causes.
Rob Lowe in ‘The West Wing’ Warner Bros Television/Kobal/Shutterstock
“As a lot because it hurts to confess it, it has been more and more clear, for fairly some time, that there was now not a spot for Sam Seaborn on The West Wing,” Lowe’s assertion on the time of his departure learn. “Warners had allowed me a possibility to depart the present as I arrived — grateful for it, completely happy to have been on it and pleased with it. We have been part of tv historical past and I’ll always remember it.”
On the time, varied studies claimed that the departure was primarily based on wage disputes, however Warner Brothers Tv and John Wells Productions made it clear that it was an “amicable” resolution between the community and the actor.
Lowe’s last episode as a collection common — titled “Purple Haven’s on Hearth” — noticed his character leaving the White Home to run for Congress in Orange County, California.
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The West Wing aired on NBC from 1999 to 2006 and starred Martin Sheen, John Spencer and Allison Janney, amongst others. Lowe reprised his position as Sam Seaborn for 2 episodes in the course of the present’s last season.
