Rob Lowe Knew Brat Pack Moniker Was 'Designed to Belittle' but Says Fans 'Didn't Get the Memo' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

WhenNew YorkMagazinesplashed “Hollywood’s Brat Pack” across its cover in June 1985, an enduring moniker was born. The feature focused on a crew of white-hot actors in their 20s at the time, includingEmilio Estevez,Rob LoweandJudd Nelson, as they and other young stars likeDemi MooreandAndrew McCarthyrode a wave of newfound fame.

The article and theBrat Packnickname didn’t sit particularly well with the group at the time.

“The article was horrible,” Lowe tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that celebrates 10 transformative moments in the Hollywood icon’s life. “It was a hit piece, there’s no doubt about it. It was designed to belittle us, make us look small, with that journalistic trick of plausible deniability.”

“This is the Hollywood ‘Brat Pack,’ " journalistDavid Blumwrote as part of his piece. “It is to the 1980s what the Rat Pack was to the 1960s — a roving band of famous young stars on the prowl for parties, women and a good time.”

Rob Lowe in 1985.Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

Lowe was able to glean perspective early on, even though he says the “Brat Pack” association “probably didn’t help our credibility … in the industry.” Most important, he adds, is that “the public — at the end of the day, that’s all that matters — never got that memo. They’re like, ‘That sounds cool.' "

Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez.Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

“I think I realized that probably quicker than the rest of the [group of actors], that it was a good thing,” says Lowe, who has long made peace with the nickname and that transformative period of his career.

“The Brat Pack is having a moment. … Andrew McCarthy’sdocumentary[BRATS] has a lot to do with it, and it couldn’t make me happier,” he says. “It was a seminal point for me becoming comfortable in the space I occupied as an actor, for lack of a better term, and the beginning of a real rocket-ship ride.”

Rob Lowe.Jenny Gage + Tom Betteron

Jenny Gage + Tom Betteron

Now 60,Lowe fully embraces his early professional journey, which began with a star-turn in Francis Ford Coppola’s classicThe Outsidersin 1983, and exploded withSt. Elmo’s Fire.

“We were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time, as the movie business was beginning a transition to where it landed and still exists, which is movies made almost exclusively for 18-to-20-year-olds,” Lowe shared with McCarthy inBRATS.

St. Elmo’s Fire.Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

“Every summer movie that’s out is geared toward that audience. It wasn’t always like that. … But we were there at a time when that began.”

He added, “Not only being in the Brat Pack, but being around at that time, it not only changed all of our lives — it changed what entertainment is.”

For more from Rob Lowe’s revealingPEOPLEinterview, pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.

source: people.com