Rob Lowe compares his time on The West Wing to a ‘super unhealthy relationship’ and admits leaving the show was ‘the best thing I ever did’

Rob Lowe shocked many fans when he left NBC’s hit series The West Wing after four seasons at the height of its popularity, and now the actor shares why he made that decision.

Lowe, 59, played White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the main protagonist of the show when it first debuted in 1999.

However, the show’s immense popularity eventually led the network to extensively tinker with the show, leading to major changes in Seaborn’s character.

That eventually led to Lowe leaving the show after its fourth season, with series creator Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme leaving soon after, and the show ran for another three seasons until 2007.

Lowe appeared on Stitcher’s Pod crushed podcast last week, where he said leaving the show was “the best thing I’ve ever done” and compared his time on the show to a “super unhealthy relationship.”

Rob as Sam: Lowe, 59, played White House Deputy Director of Communications Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the main protagonist of the show when it first debuted in 1999

“I felt very undervalued. It happens in every workplace. You can be in an environment where people make fun of you, want to see you fail, don’t value you — whatever it is,” Lowe admitted.

“Whenever I share my stories, people say, ‘I’ll never share my own stories again,’ because they would make your hair stand on end,” Lowe teased.

The actor released a memoir titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends in which he shared some stories from his time on The West Wing… though he admitted there were many he left out.

“I purposely didn’t share half of the others because it would make the people involved look so bad I didn’t want to do it to them,” he said.

“I didn’t have a good experience and tried to make it work and tried to make it work and tried to make it work,” Lowe explained.

He revealed that the final straw was not a specific incident, although rather it had to do with his sons Matthew, 29, and John Owen, 27.

“What happened was my kids got to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and accepting of it,” Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing to dating with the ‘popular girl’. at school.’

“Everyone likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be amazing — all the things people would say to me about making The West Wing,” Lowe said.

Undervalued: “I felt very undervalued. It happens in every workplace. You can be in an environment where people make fun of you, want to see you fail, don’t value you — whatever it is,” Lowe admitted.

Stories: “Whenever I share my stories, people say, ‘I’ll never share my own stories again,’ because they would make your hair stand on end,” Lowe teased

Stories: The actor released a memoir titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends in which he shared some stories from his time on The West Wing…although he admitted there were plenty he left out

Popular: “What happened was my kids got to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and accepting,” Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing dating the ‘popular girl in school’

“It’s so popular, it’s so amazing, it must be amazing,” but I know what it’s like and if I couldn’t run away from it, how could I empower my kids to run away from it ?’ Lowe explained.

“I walked away from the most popular girl in school, but I also knew it was a super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing I ever did,” he said, adding that he has “zero regrets” about his decision.

Lowe added, “What people forget is that the moment I left,[creator]Aaron Sorkin left and then it wasn’t The West Wing anymore.”

“It was ER at the White House, which is fine, but I’m not interested in that,” he said, likely referring to John Wells taking over as showrunner for Sorkin, after spending a decade at ER.