Rob Lowe’s son John Owen Lowe is sharing the lengths that his mom, Sheryl Berkoff, has gone to in order to stop paparazzi from photographing their famous family.
During a recent appearance on his dad’s Literally podcast, the Unstable actor recalled an incident in which his mother noticed that a man was taking snapshots of the family’s Fourth of July party and didn’t hesitate to get law enforcement involved.
“I have a funny story for you. We had a Fourth of July party… and my mom spotted a paparazzi on the beach and called the police and I believe said, ‘I feel scared for my life,'” John Owen said before he and guest star Andrew Gurland burst into laughter.
While the situation may have been serious to Berkoff, John Owen appeared not to find it nearly as life-threatening. He added, “That made me laugh so hard.”
Michael Buckner/Getty
As John Owen tells it, his mom then “proceeded to build a makeshift paparazzi wall” by turning some umbrellas onto their sides so that the photographer couldn’t snap any more pictures of their holiday festivities.
There was a major problem with her plan, though. “It did not occur to anyone that he could just walk around that and shoot from the other side,” John Owen said. To which Rob interjected, “But he didn’t!”
“He didn’t!” John Owen cheered. “It worked!”
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
When Gurland asked if the man took any good photos, John Owen replied, “Well, that was also the best part was that, upon being confronted — when they were asked politely, ‘Hey, can you not do this? Can you not shoot into someone’s home?’ — he said, ‘I don’t know what anyone’s problem is, Rob’s been posing for me for the last hour.'”
“Uh, he also said Johnny!” Rob maintained as his son laughed. “I don’t know about that, man,” John Owen teased.
The St. Elmo’s Fire star — who as a member of the Brat Pack is no stranger to dealing with paparazzi — then gave his sage advice on how to best navigate the issue. “You gotta give the people what they want. Give ’em the shot, they’ll go home,” he explained. “Suck it in, do your thing. It’s not a hill I’m willing to die on.”
Berkoff, a makeup artist and jewelry designer, began dating Rob after working with him on his 1990 film, Bad Influence. The couple tied the knot in 1991 and share two sons, John Owen and Matthew.
Hear John Owen recall the incident in the podcast above.
