Rob Lowe Says He 'Felt Very Undervalued' on 'The West Wing' but 'Tried to Make It Work'

"It was the best thing I ever did," Lowe said of walking away from his starring role on the hit political drama

Rob Lowe is opening up about his experience filming The West Wing — and why he ultimately chose to walk away.

The 59-year-old actor spoke about his time on Aaron Sorkin’s hit political drama during his appearance on Wednesday’s episode of Stitcher Studios’ Podcrushed podcast.

“I felt very undervalued,” Lowe said of his starring role as Sam Seaborn, the White House deputy communications director. “It happens in any workplace. You can be in an environment where people sandbag you, wanna see you fail, don’t appreciate you — whatever it is.”

“Whenever I share my stories, people are like, ‘I will never share my own stories again’ because they would make your hair stand on end,” he added.

Lowe shared that he did write about some anecdotes filming The West Wing in his 2011 memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

However, he revealed on the podcast Wednesday, “I purposely didn’t share half of the other ones because it would make the people involved look so bad that I didn't want to do it to them.”

“I did not have a good experience and tried to make it work and tried to make it work and tried to make it work,” Lowe emphasized.

Related: Rob Lowe Recalls Nerve-Wracking Moment with National Security Advisor While Filming The West Wing

The Unstable star then explained how his sons, Matthew Edward, 29, and John Owen, 27 — whom he shares with wife Sheryl Berkoff — ultimately inspired him to step away from the series after four seasons.

“What happened was my kids were getting to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and taking it,” Lowe began, as he compared his relationship with the show to dating the “popular girl” in school.

“Everybody likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be great — all the things that people would say about making The West Wing to me,” Lowe said. “‘It’s so popular, it’s so amazing, it must be amazing,’ but I know what it’s like and if I couldn’t walk away from it then how could I empower my kids to walk away from it?”

“I walked away from the most popular girl at school, but I also knew that it was a super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing I ever did,” he continued, adding that he has “zero regrets.”

He further noted, “What people forget is the minute I left, Aaron Sorkin left and then it wasn’t The West Wing anymore. It was ER in the White House, which is perfectly fine, but I’m not interested in that.”

Lowe left the series halfway through its fourth season after appearing in every episode since the NBC drama first aired in 1999. However, he did return for two episodes in season 7.

Related: The 'West Wing' Cast: Where Are They Now?

While The West Wing concluded with its seventh and final season in 2006, the cast reunited in 2020 for an HBO Max special to encourage viewers to vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Lowe told PEOPLE at the time that filming the special was "surreal," explaining, "in getting ready to do it, it felt like it had been a thousand eons ago."

"Then when the cameras rolled, and it was just [West Wing costar] Martin Sheen and I sitting down as Sam and President Bartlet, it felt like it was yesterday, and everybody was as good as I remembered them," he continued. "It was like a great, classic rock band that hadn't lost a step."

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The West Wing can be streamed in full on HBO Max.

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