Robe Lowe recalls breaking down when he sent off his son to college

Robe Lowe recently took a trip down memory lane to share his heartbreaking experience of sending off his son to college.

Robe's son, Matthew, turned 31 on September 24, but the dad of two still remembers the day he had to endure the heartbreak of being away from his kids.

"It brought up a lot of stuff," he said in People's cover story for August. "And I thought, why is this affecting me so deeply? Because Sheryl was, I mean, not unaffected, but she wasn't me.” 

The Unstable star now looks back at the “brutal” experience of flying with Matthew and wife Sheryl to Duke University with relief now that his sons are back. 

“I mean, I was like a puddle. I had to wear dark glasses on the plane because tears were streaming down my [face] the whole time,” Lowe, 60, said of the day they flew to help Matthew move in for his freshman year of college. 

“I couldn't look at him sitting in his chair, in his little seat with a little book bag. I couldn't do it... It's triggering.”

“I was a wreck…I've realised it's very, very, very common because people talk to me about it now all the time,” he added.

“Now, here we are however many years later, and you realise that was not the end,” he said. “They're back and they're not going anywhere.”

Robe has been vocal about enjoying watching his boys grow up over the years. 

"Becoming a dad was the best thing that's ever happened to me," he shared. "It remains the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's also been the thing that I think I've been best at."

Robe and Sheryl also share another son John Owen, 28.