This West Wing actor hated acting on the show and doesn’t mince words
You can sometimes find yourself in an environment where people neglect you, where some want to see you fail, where you are not appreciated at your fair value!” tackles Rob Lowe.
This is the role that made his career take off. In To the White House, Rob Lowe played the role of the head of communications, Sam Seaborn, before being fired in the middle of season 4. In the podcast “Podcrushed”, he looks back on this episode and says that leaving The West Thing after four seasons was “the best thing“which could happen to him:
“Whenever I talk to other actors who complain about their workplace, the production they’re in, I understand that these are things that happen more often than you think. find yourself in an environment where people neglect you, where some want to see you fail, where you are not appreciated at your fair value!“, entrusts Rob Lowe which continues:I’ve shared some of the things that happened to me in my book, but I purposely didn’t share the others because it would make those involved look bad and I don’t wish them any harm. I just haven’t had a good experience on Westwing.”
The actor goes further and compares his time in To the White House to a toxic relationship… like those that his children may have experienced when entering adolescence:
“I could see them with their first girlfriends and being in a toxic relationship and taking it upon themselves! She’s the popular girl, everyone likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be awesome…It was kinda the same for me The West Wing ! All the people were saying that it must be great to work on this series. It was so popular, so amazing, it must have been amazing to be in it! But no. I know what it’s like to be stuck in a toxic relationship and if I hadn’t been able to distance myself, what lesson would I have taught my children?”
Completing his metaphor, Rob Lowe finished : “I walked away from the most popular girl in school, because I also knew it was a super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing possible for me!”