Rob Lowe gets honest about 'toxic' exit from 'The West Wing'
Robert Lowe said that he did not see his role fit in 'The West Wing' at the time
August 11, 2023
Before House of Cards, there was The West Wing. But not all actors in the Emmy-winning show were happy with it. One such was Rob Lowe, who played the deputy White House communications director Sam Seaborn.
Sharing his morbid experience on Podcrushed podcast, the 59-year-old said about the NBC political drama, “Whenever I talk to actors who complain about their relationships on their shows, and sometimes it happens, it happens in any workplace, you can be in an environment where people sandbag you, want to see you fail, don’t appreciate you, whatever it is:”
Adding, “And whenever I share my stories people are like ‘I will never share my own stories again.'”
Moreover, The Outsiders star also called the work environment on the seven-season series “diving to the depths of the Titanic every day, and we were worried about a pressure crack” while calling the showrunner Aaron Sorkin “talented, but also intense.”
“I did not have a good experience,” he continued. “I 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.”
In 2003, Lowe exited the show as CNN then reported that the actor had left the show because he “was disenchanted over the unwillingness of producers to raise his $75,000-an-episode salary” while the show’s lead Martin Sheen was paid $300,000 per episode.”
Considered one of the all-time great shows, The West Wing followed the story of Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet while it spanned from 1999 to 2006. The show bagged 26 Primetime Emmy and three Golden Globe awards.
