Those of us who remember actor Rob Lowe’s exploits in the 1980s are likely to be at least a bit surprised by positive coverage of Lowe at National Review Online. Kyle Smith explains why Lowe’s new memoir offers worthwhile lessons.
[B]y Lowe’s mid 20s, the bacchanalia was getting old. He bottomed out on an infamous trip to the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988, where he made a sex tape with a 16-year-old girl. He says he did not know she was underage; they had met at a club that had a very strict carding policy. …
… The night his mother phoned to tell him his grandfather had had a massive heart attack, his girlfriend had just dumped him after catching him with another woman. His instinct was to chug some tequila and go to bed, but catching a glimpse of his wasted self in the mirror, he thought, “I’m so hammered I can barely stand. The girl I love has just left me, because I can’t keep my word and I have no integrity. My grandfather is dying, my mother is in crisis . . . and I am cowering and hiding.” He begged his girlfriend to take him back, then married her. Today he and Sheryl Berkoff, a makeup artist, have been married for nearly 30 years and raised two young men together. (The sons live to troll Dad on Instagram.)
Lowe managed to find stability and satisfaction for the first time in his life when he got off the hedonic treadmill. …
… Lowe discovered through experience what cognitive scientists have found in recent decades: that we are extraordinarily bad at predicting what will make us happy. He thought he loved what he calls “the scene,” but actually he was wildly uncomfortable among strangers and drank heavily to cover for it. … As he tells other guys: If you find yourself dating your best friend, marry her.
