Rob Lowe’s son learned the hard way that sometimes dad really does know best.
The "St. Elmo's Fire" star advised his son, John Owen Lowe , to stay alert before heading out for a night in New York City – advice he brushed aside before returning home hours later with a black eye.
"The first time my sons were old enough to go to the nightclubs, they were here [in New York], and you know they're country rubes, my kids," Lowe said during an appearance on the "Chicks in the Office" podcast. "They grew up in Santa Barbara. They're not street smart."
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"I mean, they may have gone to Stanford and Duke, but they're dummies," he added.
Despite their impressive academic credentials, Lowe said his sons still had a few lessons to learn outside the classroom.
"So, my son was like, 'Yeah, I'm meeting my friends' … and I go, 'Where is it?' And he goes, 'It's down in the Bowery' and this and that and the other. I was like, 'All right, well, listen. You know, just keep your head on a swivel,'" Lowe shared. "He goes, 'Dad, Dad, I'm fine. I'm going to be fine.' I'm like, 'John Owen, it's New York. I'm just saying.' He goes, 'Dad, stop it!'"
"He was home by midnight with a black eye," Lowe recalled. "And had gotten mugged by a guy with a knife because he was on his phone not paying attention."
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For Lowe, the frightening incident underscored a familiar challenge of parenthood : kids often think they know best.
"But that's the thing is like, you know, it's like all kids are clueless experts," he explained.
Lowe shares two sons with his wife, jewelry designer and former makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff . Matthew Lowe took a largely non-Hollywood path, graduating from Duke University and earning a law degree from Loyola Law School.
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John Owen followed in Lowe's footsteps, stepping into the entertainment industry. He wrote for his father's Fox series "9-1-1: Lone Star" and co-created and starred alongside him in the Netflix comedy "Unstable." The father-son comedy drew inspiration from their real-life relationship and ran for two seasons.
Lowe said both of his boys live in California, allowing the close-knit family to spend plenty of time together.
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"Which is great because I love having them around," he said. "We're all very close. I talk to them multiple times every day. I see them a lot. We're a really, really close family."
"And, of course, if they don't pick up the FaceTime, I know that they're definitely up to no good," Lowe joked.