Rob Lowe Admits His Time on 'The West Wing' Was Like Being in an 'Abusive' Relationship, Reveals Other People Felt the Same Way

Though many would consider Rob Lowe's gig on The West Wing to be his breakthrough TV role, the actor confessed he was absolutely miserable throughout his four season run.

The dad-of-two got candid about his time on the series from 1999 to 2003 during his Wednesday, August 9, appearance on "Podcrushed."

"I felt very undervalued. 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," he explained. "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."

The Parks and Recreation alum wasn't the only person who felt that way, revealing, "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.'"

In fact, Lowe confessed he "purposely didn’t share half" of his experiences in his memoir because "it would make the people involved look so bad that I didn’t want to do it to them."

"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," likening his time on the series to dating the most popular girl at school.

The situation made him think about what he would tell his and wife Sheryl's two sons if they were in a similar situation.

"Everybody likes her, she’s beautiful, it must be great — all the things that people would say about making The West Wing to me. 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?'" he continued.

"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 concluded.

Back then, the Hollywood heartthrob kept his disdain to himself, even releasing a sweet message upon his departure.

"As much as it hurts to admit it, it has been increasingly clear, for quite a while, that there was no longer a place for Sam Seaborn on The West Wing," he stated at the time. "Warners had allowed me an opportunity to leave the show as I arrived — grateful for it, happy to have been on it and proud of it. We were a part of television history and I will never forget it."