It’s been almost 40 years since the Brat Pack earned their name — where are the iconic ’80s stars now?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
They hung out at the Hard Rock Cafe. They starred in teen coming-of-age movies — many of which were written by John Hughes. The ’80s were their heyday. Their leader is Emilio Estevez. They are the “Brat Pack.”
In 1985, David Blum branded the young stars “Hollywood’s Brat Pack” on the cover of New York Magazine. Almost 40 years later, there is still debate about who the Brat Pack members actually are, but the iconic group is usually considered to be: Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore and Ally Sheedy. These are the actors who starred in one or both of the essential Brat Pack movies, “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.”
A few more of the Brat Pack’s staple movies include: “The Outsiders,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Pretty in Pink,” “About Last Night” and “Wisdom.”
Many would argue that the Brat Pack peaked during the ’80s. But although they have aged and no longer have Hughes movies to star in, the Brat Pack members are still around. Almost 40 years since Blum coined the term “Brat Pack,” here is what the quintessential teen stars of the ’80s are up to.
Emilio Estevez
Estevez — Charlie Sheen’s older brother — earned his notoriety in “The Breakfast Club,” “The Outsiders,” “Wisdom” and “The Mighty Ducks.” He was also engaged to fellow Brat Pack member Demi Moore between 1984 and 1986, per Insider.
Where is Estevez now?
The former king of the Brat Pack’s biggest role since the 1980s was playing Gordon Bombay in “The Mighty Ducks” in 1992. In 2021, Disney+ resurrected Estevez’s role as Gordon Bombay in the series “Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.” He starred in the first season of the series but was replaced for the second season over “nothing more than a good old fashioned contract dispute” as well as “a myriad of creative differences,” he told Deadline.
Rumors were circling that Estevez was cut from the show because he would not comply with COVID-19 vaccine requirements. He denied the rumors and said he is “not anti-vaxx” but “anti-bully” and that he felt “disappointed” about leaving the show, per Deadline.
Estevez mostly stays behind the camera now. He directed the movie “The Public,” which was released in 2018, as well as episodes of “Cold Case,” “CSI: NY” and “Numb3rs,” per Insider.
Related
Rob Lowe
Lowe, who Blum called “The Most Beautiful Face,” starred in “The Outsiders,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Oxford Blues” and “About Last Night.”
In 2021, Lowe joked about a Brat Pack reunion. “There is not enough in the world to make fun of, I think the Brat Pack should volunteer,” Lowe said, per Us Weekly. He suggested the Brat Pack reunion “be something weird and offbeat and quirky.”
Where is Lowe now?
Lowe has kept busy since the ’80s. In 1991, Lowe married makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff. They are still married and have two children together.
He has starred in “West Wing” alongside Estevez’s dad Martin Sheen. Lowe received nominations for an Emmy and two Golden Globes for his performance in the show, per Entertainment Weekly. For six seasons, Lowe played the ever-positive Chris Traeger on the award-winning sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”
He has appeared in other various TV shows and movies since his Brat Pack days, such as “The Grinder,” “9-1-1: Lonestar,” “Wayne’s World,” “Code Black” and “Brothers and Sisters.” He is also the spokesperson for the diet program Atkins.
Lowe recently collaborated with his son, John Owen Lowe to create the Netflix comedy, “Unstable.”
“As a dad, it was a very proud moment because I got to marvel at his facility for writing,” Lowe told Variety. “As an actor, and particularly as a co-producer, creator with him, being able to have somebody who thinks like me, has the same wants and needs as I do, it’s like having a second brain on the set. That’s super helpful to have in a partner.”
Related
Judd Nelson
Nelson remains best known for his role of John Bender in “The Breakfast Club,” but was also in “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Billionaire Boys Club,” “Blue City” and a few other movies during the ’80s.
Like some of the other Brat Packers, Nelson has openly criticized the name given to the group by Blum — and even said he should have punched Blum for it. “I would have been better served following my gut feeling and knocking him unconscious,” Nelson said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And after that article, not only are we strongly encouraged not to work with each other again — and for the most part we haven’t — but it was insinuated we might not want to be hanging out with these people.”
Where is Nelson now?
Nelson, 63, continues to act mostly in voiceover roles, straight to DVD movies and in TV appearances, including “Psych,” “Empire,” “Nikita” and “Two and a Half Men,” per Yahoo News. He starred in the 2021 Lifetime movie “Girl in the Basement” and in 2020 he played a poetry teacher in “Iceland is Best.”
He doesn’t keep up with the Brat Pack like he used to. “Every once in a while I’ll see one of them,” he said, per Yahoo News. “And I miss all of them. I mean, I’ve not seen Rob Lowe since before he had children. They’re grown up now. That’s a long time. I’ve seen Anthony Michael Hall, who played Brian in ‘The Breakfast Club.’ Every so often, I have contact with Emilio Estevez and I really miss him. He’s a smart, very funny guy.”
Related
Molly Ringwald
Queen of the Brat Pack, Molly Ringwald, played the leading lady in Brat Pack movies “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Pretty in Pink.”
Ringwald is known for starring in several movies during the 1980s directed by the legendary Hughes. “He was unlike any other director that I had ever met. He had spiky hair and these crazy sneakers,” Ringwald said of Hughes, per Vogue. “We really clicked and got along almost immediately. I was fairly introverted, but he just had so much confidence in me, to the point that I felt like I could do anything.”
Where is Ringwald now?
Ringwald made a comeback to television on the drama series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and she also played a parental role in the CW show “Riverdale.” Most recently, Ringwald appeared on “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” as Jeffrey Dahmer’s stepmother and on the Hulu series “The Bear.”
She has also authored two books — “When it Happens to You” and “Getting the Pretty Back,” per The Washington Post.
Ringwald married writer Panio Gianopoulos in 2007 and they have three children together.
In April 2023, Ringwald opened up to the Guardian about her young Hollywood career. “ I was projected as this perfect, sweet American girl next door. Which wasn’t me, but I was figuring out who I was, too,” she told the Guardian.
“I didn’t really feel like darker roles were available to me. The ones that I wanted to do, I didn’t get. I was too young for certain roles. I was at this weird in-between stage,” Ringwald added.
“I really didn’t know exactly what I wanted – I was just following my bliss.”
Related
Anthony Michael Hall
Known for playing geeky characters like “the brain” in “The Breakfast Club,” Hall filled the nerdy teen character role in “Sixteen Candles” and “Weird Science.” He graduated to roles as the tough guy in “Edward Scissorhands” and “Johnny Be Good.”
When he was 17, Hall also spent a year on the cast of Saturday Night Live, per Entertainment Weekly.
Despite being considered a member of the ’80s crew, Hall denies the Brat Pack ever existed and claimed he’s never met fellow Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy, reports Insider.
“Even when I was a kid and doing the John Hughes movies and doing one year on ‘SNL,’ I was never in a clique. I never benefited from being in a gang in Hollywood,” Hall said, per Insider. “It didn’t exist. It was a media ploy.”
Where is Hall now?
Hall has appeared on TV series such as “The Goldbergs,” “Murder in the First,” “Awkward” and “Community.” He is best known nowadays for his role in “The Dead Zone,” which aired from 2002 to 2007.
In 2017, the child star was sentenced to three years of probation after he pleaded no contest to charges that he assaulted a neighbor when an argument escalated, per People. Hall shoved the neighbor, who fell to the ground and broke his wrist.
This June, at 55, Hall became a father. Hall and his wife, Lucia Hall welcomed their first son, Michael Anthony Hall II, in Los Angelos on June 1, 2023.
“I couldn’t be happier because I always knew, even when I was a young man, that I wanted to get started later. Here I am at 55, and I’m fully committed,” Hall told People. “I’m excited. My wife and I are really into parenting and diving in.”
Related
Demi Moore
Demi Moore sealed her membership in the Brat Pack when appearing in “St. Elmo’s Fire” in 1985. She earned further notoriety for her roles in “Ghost,” “About Last Night,” “A Few Good Men” and “Indecent Proposal.” She earned a Golden Globe for her performance in “Ghost,” per Insider.
Following her broken engagement to Estevez in 1987, Moore married Bruce Willis and they had three children together. They divorced after 10 years.
Where is Moore now?
Moore has appeared in dozens of movies since her ’80s and ’90s heyday, such as “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” “Blind,” “Corporate Animals,” “Wild Oats” and “Forsaken.”
In 2019, Moore released a memoir called “Inside Out” in which she details her career, personal life and childhood, per The New York Times.
Related
Ally Sheedy
Sheedy appeared in multiple Brat Pack movies, including both “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “The Breakfast Club.” She also starred in “Blue City,” “WarGames,” “Short Circuit” and “Oxford Blues.”
In 1998, Sheedy won the Independent Spirit Award for her role in “High Art.”
“I’ve never been nominated for anything before, this may never happen again,” Sheedy said when she accepted her award, per E News.
Sheedy said the Brat Pack name gave off the wrong impression. “We weren’t young actors running around town spending all our time together. I thought it was a little gossipy and undermining, and I didn’t know that it was going to stick the way that it did. It was uncomfortable for quite a long time,” she said, per the Independent.
Where is Sheedy now?
Sheedy’s acting career slowed down quite a bit after the ’90s, but she made television appearances in episodes of “The Dead Zone,” “Psych” and “Kyle XY.” She recently played a lead role in the Freeform series “Single Drunk Female.”
She teaches an acting class at the City College of New York, per People.
“Some of them Google me, or they have a great filmography in their head and they’ve seen what I’ve done,” Sheedy said, per People. “I’m very open to talking about my experiences. And I have an affinity for them so much because they are the age I was when I was working. ... I’m telling them everything I wish I knew!”
Related
