Rob Lowe recalls getting busted smoking weed with Michael J. Fox in the '80s (original) (raw)

Rob Lowe is reflecting on one of his lower moments getting high.

In an interview with Ted Danson on his podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, the Parks and Recreation star recalled an unforgettable experience during an environmentalist tour in the '80s. "There was a bus tour through California for Prop 65, which was about cleaning up our water system, and everybody on the planet was on it," Lowe remembered.

Rob Lowe and Michael J. Fox.

Barry King/WireImage

The Hollywood Clean Water Caravan, which was organized by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray), saw a murderer's row of massive actors travel across California to promote a state measure that would ultimately protect drinking water from toxic materials.

Lowe's recollection makes the atmosphere on one of the buses sound pretty… relaxed. "We got pulled over for speeding — well, also because Michael J. Fox and I were smoking pot out of the top of the Greyhound bus roof," he said. "And the cop pulled us over, and it was like a clown car. Out came Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Judd Nelson, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey Jr., Jane Fonda, Danny Glover."

Lowe admitted that it might not have been the speeding that alerted the traffic officer. After Danson asked specifically why the bus was pulled over, Lowe said, "We had the top emergency hatch off, Michael and I, and we were smoking pot."

A representative for Fox did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

Michael J. Fox at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2023.

Noam Galai/Getty I

Lowe said that he "loved doing all that stuff" as an environmental advocate, but he also indicated that celebrity activism seems somewhat silly in retrospect. "You know when you wanna shut down a nuclear power plant, the two people that are best to do it for sure are me and Meg Ryan," Lowe said sarcastically. "I mean, you know that will make you rethink your energy priorities when we show up."

Fox was resolute in his commitment to clean water advocacy at the time. "It's a very clean-cut issue," the Back to the Future star told UPI in 1986. "It's about having a right to know what you're being exposed to."

Chevy Chase, Margot Kidder, Morgan Fairchild, and Ed Begley Jr. were also involved in the initiative, according to the same UPI report.

Rob Lowe at the 2024 ESPYs.

Amy Sussman/WireImage

Elsewhere in the Danson interview, Lowe also recalled one of his strangest early projects. "I did a pilot presentation, not even a pilot, with Ron Howard directing, and it was a starring vehicle for his brother, Clint Howard," he said. "In those days, like I said, it wasn't good enough just to have a family living in a house. This was a show about a family of stunt performers who traveled the world with another family who were circus people. So you had, like, people bringing elephants and tigers to cities while I was a young Evel Knievel in spandex."

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Lowe wasn't quite suited for the part. "Nobody ever asked me if I could ride a motorcycle. I couldn't," he said. "I never worked for Ron since. Ron only made 5,000 movies. I'm like, 'Ron, really? Throw a brother a f---ing bone," he joked.

Listen to the full conversation between Lowe and Danson above.