STORIES I ONLY TELL MY FRIENDS by Rob Lowe

I knew Rob Lowe from the “The West Wing” series and also as being, at one time, the boyfriend of Princess Stephanie de Monaco.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn from his book “Stories I only tell my friends” that there is more to him than just the superficial facts I used to know.
I had a lot to learn from his stories.

“Many people still buy into the idea that actors can control and plan their careers. This is, to put it plainly, bullshit. Even the biggest star is at the mercy of the material offered to him.
All any actor can really do is take the best material available at any given time, do good work, and hope for lightning to strike.”

“Side note for young actors: Say YES to ANY opportunity to grow and/ or do good work. You never know where it will lead or who may be paying attention.”

I was touched particularly about Rob’s view about divorce and children from a divorced family:

“But there are many other lessons that teenage boys need to learn. And most of these can’t be taught over pizza at midnight or on the tennis court. I only know this because of my own teen sons.

They don’t really listen to speeches or talks. They absorb incrementally, through hours and hours of observation.

The sad truth about divorce is that it’s hard to teach your kids about life unless you are living life with them: eating together, doing homework, driving them around endlessly, being bored with nothing to do, letting them listen while you do business, while you negotiate love and the frustrations and complications and rewards of living day in and out with your wife.

Through this, they see how adults handle responsibility, honesty, commitment, jealousy, anger, professional pressures, and social interactions.”

Published by Henry Holt and Company, 2011