Rob Lowe and wife Sheryl Berkoff’s two sons have taken on the family business over the years.
After first meeting on a blind date in 1983, the 9-1-1: Lone Star actor and his future wife crossed paths again when she worked as a makeup artist on the set of his 1990 film Bad Influence. The experience had nothing but a positive influence on their relationship, as they fell in love and tied the knot the following year.
Around the time of their 1991 nuptials, Rob began his recovery journey after struggling with substance abuse for several years. He later credited Berkoff for helping him make it through the difficult process. “Listen, she may have saved my life, really,” he told Entertainment Tonight in May 2021.
The Parks and Recreation alum continued: “I mean, she met me when I was at the end of my ’80s run of wild boy craziness and she was worth changing my life for. And so I am really lucky that that happened to me. Maybe I had changed it on my own, maybe, but it’s a big maybe. And just when I met her, I knew that if I could not make it with her, I definitely could not make it work with anyone else.”
Rob and Berkoff became parents in 1993 with the birth of their son Matthew. Two years later, they became a family of four with the addition of their son John in 1995.
The Love Life author’s close-knit relationship with his kids is something he said is his proudest accomplishment as a parent. “Now that they’re older, they don’t need so much discipline,” Rob explained in an April 2019 interview with Fatherly. “I can lean into the friendship. I love having that time with them, talking about work, about jobs, career advancement and strategizing and going out golfing or going to a Dodgers game. It’s the best relationship I could hope for.
When it comes to what advice the St. Elmo’s Fire star gave his kids about pursuing their own careers, he said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
It just so happens that Rob’s kids share his passion for entertainment, as well as his curiosity about the unknown. The three teamed up to investigate some of the country’s most mysterious legends and stories on the 2017 series The Lowe Files.
John has built up an acting career of his own, starring alongside Rob in projects such as The Grinder and Holiday in the Wild. In 2023, John and Rob co-created the Netflix comedy Unstable, on which they play father-son duo Jackson and Ellis, respectively. The series follows the two as they work to rekindle their strained relationship while saving Ellis’ biotech company.
“This show is about a son who wants to get out of his father’s shadow, and I am literally a son who wants to get out of my father’s shadow,” John said in a March 2023 interview with Variety. “I have adopted a new perspective on that, which is, when you’re lost in the forest, sometimes the only way to get out is to go deeper into the forest.”
Rob’s brother, Chad Lowe, is also an accomplished actor and father of three.
Scroll below to meet Rob’s famous family:
