Actor Rob Lowe is revisiting his memory of getting high with "Back to the Future" star Michael J. Fox on an environmentalist bus tour in the 1980s, which led to a traffic stop that ended with several A-listers clambering out of the vehicle.
Lowe saud in an interview with Ted Danson on his podcast "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" that the bus tour through California was for Proposition 65, "which was about cleaning up our water system, and everybody on the planet was on it."
The Hollywood Clean Water Caravan, led by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, featured a star-studded group of actors traveling across California to raise awareness for a state law protecting drinking water from harmful toxins, Entertainment Weekly reported. Everything was going smoothly until the cops waved them over.
"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," Lowe 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 was not necessarily the speeding that had alerted the traffic officer. Asked why the bus was pulled over, Lowe said, "We had the top emergency hatch off, Michael and I, and we were smoking pot."
Lowe said that although he "loved doing all that stuff" as an environmental advocate, he found celebrity activism somewhat silly.
"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."
While Lowe made light of that specific situation, earlier this month he spoke candidly with People about getting sober — something that was "an incremental decision."
"It's baby steps until you're ready. You can't do it until you're really ready," he said.
After hitting rock bottom, Lowe said he was "so ready" to move past his days of hard partying and get sober.
"It was relieving, and it was scary, [but] I learned the tools to change your life if you have the self-honesty to do it," he said. "I felt, 'Oh, OK, I'm not alone. I'm not crazy.'"
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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