Rob Lowe's Brothers: All About Chad, Justin and Micah

Rob Lowe has three younger brothers: Chad Lowe, Justin Lowe and Micah Dyer

Rob Lowe and actor-director Chad Lowe may literally be one of Hollywood’s most famous sets of siblings — but the duo also has two additional half-brothers: Justin Lowe and Micah Dyer.

Rob was born on March 17, 1964, to Barbara Hepler, a teacher, and Charles Lowe, an attorney. Nearly four years later, on Jan. 15, 1968, younger brother Chad was born. But Hepler and Charles divorced shortly after Chad’s birth — and both went on to remarry and have more children. Hepler had a third son, Micah Dyer, in 1973, and Charles also had another son, named Justin.

Growing up with four boys naturally led to some competition — particularly between Rob and Chad.

“We’ve had our battles like all siblings do,” Chad told Fox News about Rob in 2022. “But he’s always been my best friend. And I think he would say the same of me. He’s the person that I turn to for almost everything in my life."

And though the family has had their ups and downs over the years — including their parents’ multiple marriages, struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse and losing their mother to cancer — their bond has remained strong through it all.

“The foundation is family,” Chad told Fox News. “The foundation is the love that we share for one another and each other. The most important thing is that bond. Everything else grows from that bond of family. That’s always been the most important thing to us.”

From their famous neighbors growing up to their careers in Hollywood, here is everything to know about Rob Lowe’s younger brothers: Chad Lowe, Justin Lowe and Micah Dyer.

Rob and Chad’s parents divorced when they were young

Rob and Chad are the sons of the late Barbara Hepler, a high school English teacher, and Charles “Chuck” Lowe, a lawyer. The pair divorced when Rob was just 4 years old and Chad was a baby. Despite their parents’ split, Rob once described his Ohio upbringing as “traditional” to The Guardian.

Following their parents’ divorce, Rob and Chad would spend weekends — and later, summers — with their father in Ohio. Both of the actors fondly recall the time spent with their father.

“We would spend our summers together in Ohio with our father,” Chad shared with Fox News when asked about his favorite childhood memory with Rob. “And so our father would have to work during the day. We were just these two latchkey kids in Dayton, Ohio, in the summers, kind of running amok and getting into all sorts of trouble. We were like Butch and Sundance.”

For Rob, his time spent with his father post-divorce would bring bittersweet feelings — mainly because he hated the “goodbye” that came at the end of the weekend.

“After my parents’ divorce, when I was four, I spent weekends with my dad in Ohio,” Rob wrote in Reader’s Digest. “By the time Sunday rolled around, I was incapable of enjoying the day’s activities because I was already dreading the inevitable goodbye of the evening.”

Rob and Chad were neighbors with the Sheens and Penns as teenagers

Rob, Chad and Micah’s mother Hepler married for a third time to a therapist who lived in Los Angeles, so the family moved to Malibu in 1976 when Rob was 12 and Chad was 8. Initially, Rob wasn’t thrilled about the family’s cross-country move.

“I was not a happy camper,” Rob told The Guardian. “Coming from Ohio, I might as well have been dropped in from Mars. I didn’t surf. I don’t think I had ever swum in the ocean.”

“It was not an ideal move at all,” he added in a separate interview with The Guardian.

But their new neighborhood and school (Santa Monica High School) would soon change that. They lived nearby the Sheens and the Penns, and grew especially close to Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez and Sean Penn.

“Everybody in their childhood has that family where you know you’re going to be there on Christmas Eve,” Rob told Oprah in 2011. “And on any given weekend, you’re going to be maybe spending the night in the guest bedroom. That was the Sheens’ house for me growing up."

The neighborhood crew — which also included Robert Downey Jr. — all had similar ambitions to be actors. Rob recalled the homemade movies they filmed in the backyard as teenagers to the Evening Standard. 

“We all made backyard movies with our little cameras because we all wanted to be actors,” Rob said, revealing he had found one of their films. “It is shot in Martin Sheen’s backyard … It may be the stupidest movie ever committed to video tape.”

Rob, Chad and Micah all work in the entertainment industry

Rob, who had ambitions to be an actor since he was a child, was the first of the brothers to break into Hollywood. He was cast in 1983’s The Outsiders, along with his neighborhood friend Emilio Estevez, at the age of 19. He quickly became known as a teenage heartthrob, but it was his younger brothers who helped keep his ego in check.

“It makes my life exciting sometimes and in other times it makes it uncomfortable,” Rob said about his newfound fame on Good Morning America in 1983. “And then when you go home, you want to have your little brothers, like, jump on your bed and wake you up and have to take out the trash and, you know, brings you down-to-earth and it makes you just centered."

Chad broke into acting shortly after his big brother, landing a role in the 1984 television film Silence of the Heart (with Charlie Sheen, another neighbor and friend of the Lowes). Witnessing Rob’s breakout in Hollywood helped Chad guide his own career.

“I’ve learned a lot from watching him, taking note of his mistakes as well as the good things that have happened,” Chad told The Morning Call in 1988 about being inspired by his brother Rob.

Rob and Chad’s younger brother Micah also works in the entertainment industry. He had several small roles on a few television shows in the 1990s — but has since made his career as a reality television producer, working on shows including Project Runway, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Rob and Chad have both won awards for their acting

Both Rob and Chad have been nominated for several acting awards over the course of their careers — and each haven taken home wins of their own.

Rob received his first major nomination in 1983, when he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in the made-for-television movie Thursday’s Child. But it was his role as Sam Seaborn on the television drama The West Wing that would earn him the most recognition.

Rob was nominated for two Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy during his four-year stint on the show, and he ultimately took home the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series in 2002 and 2003.

Chad earned a Primetime Emmy Award in 1993 for his portrayal of a young man living with HIV on the television show Life Goes On. He was not present to accept his Emmy Award, however, and it is a decision he now regrets.

“I was nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actor [in Life Goes On] and ended up winning the Emmy for best supporting actor, but I was not there at the Emmys. There’s another regret," Chad revealed on the At Home With The Creative Coalition podcast in 2021. “Because I’m a serious actor, because I don’t act for awards. So that’s what I’m thinking … If I was ever nominated again, God willing, I’d be the first person in line.”

Rob and Chad acted together for the first time in 2022

Though Rob and Chad have both been working in Hollywood for more than four decades, they didn’t appear on-screen together until 2022 — when Chad was cast to play Rob’s estranged brother on 9-1-1: Lone Star. For Chad, the experience had him intimidated at first, especially since most of his recent work has been directing.

“I did not want to fail. And I especially didn’t want to fail in front of my brother — because I would hear about it for the rest of our lives,” Chad told Fox News about the guest role.

He continued, “But it was a little bit like riding a bicycle. And it didn’t hurt that I was with my brother. Rob is just a really talented actor. He really brings the best out of me."

Though the guest appearance on 9-1-1: Lone Star marked the first time the brothers had acted together, Rob and Chad had collaborated before — with Chad directing Rob in episodes of Fox's The Grinder and ABC's Brothers & Sisters. Chad also directed Rob in episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star.

“We have ESP,” Rob told PEOPLE about his dynamic with Chad on set. “So he knows before I say something, and I know [before] he says something. And if something isn’t working, we both know without even talking to each other.”

Rob added: “Anyone who gets that kind of privilege [to work alongside family] knows it’s hard to put into words how proud you are, the satisfaction … [it’s] just another added beautiful dynamic and I love being able to do it.”

Rob, Chad and Micah’s mother died of breast cancer in 2003

Rob, Chad and Micah lost their mother, Hepler, to stage-four breast cancer in December 2003. She was 64-years-old, according to her obituary. When Hepler was first diagnosed with cancer, Rob, Chad and Micah each took on the role of caregiver for their mother.

“She did not have a husband or a significant other, so it fell to me and my two brothers to navigate everything from her initial diagnosis to doctor shopping, treatment options, driving her to appointments and, finally, hospice care and the end of life — which was profoundly difficult, obviously,” Rob wrote in Newsweek.

He added, “Taking care of my mother was scary, unbelievably stressful and painful. It was also a time to be with her in a way that might never have happened under other circumstances. When she passed in 2003, I felt that we’d had the talks we needed to have, that we’d spent the time together we needed to spend.”

In addition to their mother, the brothers also lost their grandmother and great-grandmother to breast cancer. As a result, Rob makes an effort to support various charities and fundraising efforts for the disease.

“Anytime I can be a part of raising awareness or money for people affected with cancer, I do it in honor of my grandma, my great-grandma and my mother, all of whom had breast cancer,” Rob told PEOPLE. “I’ve been through the triumphs and the tragedies of it, [and] I’ve seen how much of a difference new treatments can make.”

Rob, Chad and Justin all have children of their own

Rob, Chad and their younger brother Justin have six children between them.

Rob and his wife Sheryl Berkoff, have two sons: Matthew, a lawyer who works for a venture capital firm, and John Owen, an actor and writer.

“I was super ready to coach Little League, carve pumpkins on Halloween, read books and serve hot lunch on Wednesdays,” Rob told PEOPLE in 2022 about fatherhood. “I really, really loved every minute of it.”

Chad and his wife since 2010, Kim Lowe, have three daughters together: Mabel, Fiona, and Nixie.

“We’re wonderfully outnumbered, I like to say,” Chad told PEOPLE after Nixie’s birth. “We feel so fortunate.”

Rounding out the youngest generation of Lowes is Justin’s son Jackson. “What a Lowe!!! The youngest male, Justin’s son, Jackson,” grandfather Charles once shared alongside a photo of the boy on Instagram.

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