Rob Lowe Shocks NY Times: 'I Want Government Out of Almost Everything'

April 7th, 2014 2:24 PM

In an interview with The New York Times, Rob Lowe was asked for his political beliefs: “My thing is personal freedoms, freedoms for the individual to love whom they want, do with what they want. In fact, I want the government out of almost everything.”

Save the "almost" for drugs, which Lowe knows about. He doesn't like the blue-state trend of letting “my 18-year-old – any 18-year-old – to go and buy pot like he’s buying a Pepsi-Cola.” Yes, liberals seem tougher on Pepsi.

NYT: You’ve compared loyalty to a political party to recreational drug use. You’ve been sober for several years now, so what did you mean by that?


LOWE: I find them both highly overrated. Each day another state makes it O.K. for my 18-year-old — any 18-year-old — to go and buy pot like he’s buying a Pepsi-Cola, and so let’s face it: In the United States, recreational drug use is sort of acceptable. Belonging to one party is acceptable. But my days of just ticking the party box are long over. I judge the candidates for who they are.

If Lowe had been interviewed by Deborah Solomon, who used to do these interviews (instead of Taffy Brodesser-Akner), he would have faced much fiercer questioning on these matters. Just appearing in a movie based on an Bill O’Reilly book (“Killing Kennedy”) would start the fireworks.

Lowe also discussed the perils of being pretty, oh the bias! 

There’s this unbelievable bias and prejudice against quote-unquote good-looking people, that they can’t be in pain or they can’t have rough lives or be deep or interesting. They can’t be any of the things that you long to play as an actor. I’m getting to play those parts now and loving it. When I was a teen idol, I was so goddamn pretty I wouldn’t have taken myself seriously.