The Surprising Star Who Got Caught Smoking Pot With Rob Lowe in the ’80s

Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek’s network of contributors

Rob Lowe once got pulled over by police for smoking weed with a 25-year-old Michael J. Fox.

The 60-year-old actor recalled the wild story from 1986 while speaking with Ted Danson in the Wednesday, August 28 episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast.

“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 laughed, sharing the story from when he was about 22 years old. It occurred during a star-studded caravan journey for anti-toxics measure Prop 65.

“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,” the 9-1-1: Lone Star actor explained. It was organized by Chicago and Hairspray producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

Speaking with the UPI that year, Fox expressed his passion for the cause. “It’s a very clean-cut issue,” he said. “It’s about having a right to know what you’re being exposed to.”

“The cop pulled us over, and it was like a clown car,” Lowe told Danson. “Out came Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Judd Nelson, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey Jr., Jane Fonda, Danny Glover.”

When Danson asked what caught the cop’s attention, Lowe confessed that it likely wasn’t just the speeding. “We had the top emergency hatch off, Michael and I, and we were smoking pot,” he said.

Looking back on the environmental adventure, Lowe said that he “loved doing all that stuff,” though he now finds it a bit silly to make advocacy so celebrity-focused.

“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 joked. “I mean, you know that will make you rethink your energy priorities when we show up.”