Rob Lowe is opening up for the first time about how his appearance made him a target for bullying as a child.
The "9-1-1: Lone Star" actor, 62, reflected on growing up being considered "pretty" during a conversation with Oprah Winfrey on the Aug. 20 episode of his "Literally! With Rob Lowe" podcast. The topic came up after Winfrey asked Lowe how his looks have affected who he is.
"I wish that when I was younger I was cute. What I actually was, was pretty," Lowe said. "And that as a boy is not what you want to be."
Lowe said his appearance subjected him to relentless homophobic bullying, revealing that other children routinely called him an anti-gay slur.
"I got that 24/7," Lowe said, adding that he had never publicly discussed the experience before. "This is the first time I've ever talked about it."
The "Parks and Recreation" alum connected the experience to a previous conversation with Winfrey about her book "What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing," which explores how experiences from childhood can shape people later in life.
"It is one of the things that happened to me," Lowe said
The actor explained that he had long avoided revisiting the bullying, citing his tendency to follow a "never complain, never explain" philosophy.
"So people talk … about me. So what?" Lowe said. "But the truth of it is, we know today that that stuff affects you."Lowe also reflected on how his experience might have been different had he grown up today, suggesting there would have been more space to discuss what he was going through.
"If it had happened to me in today's culture, there would have been an audience for" it, Lowe said.
Lowe, who began acting professionally as a teenager, rose to fame in the 1980s with roles in movies including "The Outsiders," "St. Elmo's Fire" and "About Last Night…" He later starred in TV shows including "The West Wing," "Brothers & Sisters" and "Parks and Recreation."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rob Lowe says he was bullied as a kid for being 'pretty'
