The actress candidly discussed the reunion on the 'Literally! With Rob Lowe' podcast.
Rob Lowe believes shared experiences helped Jennifer Aniston open up to him. ET's Matt Cohen speaks to the 57-year-old actor on Wednesday's episode of Entertainment Tonight, and Lowe reflects on Aniston giving her candid thoughts on Friends: The Reunion while on his podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe.
"This is the reason I wanted to do Literally. Jen Aniston gives a lot of interviews... so do all of the people I talk to, but I feel like there are questions I want to ask them that I don't think other people are gonna ask them," Lowe explains to ET. "A lot of it is our mutual shared histories. I know things about them that other folks just aren't gonna know."
During the September podcast episode, Aniston admitted that the experience of being back on the set of Friends for the HBO Max special took her and the rest of the cast "down way harder than we anticipated," noting that it was "kind of hard to time travel."
"Going back there, it’s nostalgic in a way that’s kind of also a little melancholy 'cause a lot has changed," Aniston added. "We have all gone down different roads, some easy and some not-so easy, for each of us. It was brutal. And you also can’t turn it off… There are cameras everywhere, and I can’t stop crying."
For Lowe, Aniston's comments are "a perfect example" of why he's the right person to be having discussions with his fellow celebrities.
"I had done a reunion. I had done a Parks and Rec reunion, I had done a West Wing reunion, so when I talked to Jen about her Friends reunion, just the fact that it was something both of us have done I think enabled her to open up and talk about the reunion, which she had a lot, in a way that she never had before, that was how melancholy it was for her," Lowe says. "I totally got it. It's very bittersweet."
Though he's talked to countless A-listers on his podcast, there are still plenty more people he'd love to welcome on.
"I haven't [interviewed] Lorne Michaels, who created Saturday Night Live, and is one of the true geniuses of comedy. I love doing comedy people. So Lorne is somebody who I would absolutely want and am gonna have," Lowe says, before adding Bruce Springsteen and Ron Howard to the list.
"I get to geek out, and nerd out, and ask them all these obscure things about their work," he says. "When I get to ask them things like that, those are my favorite episodes."
On top of Literally! With Rob Lowe, the actor co-hosts a rewatch podcast, Parks and Recollection, and stars on 9-1-1: Lone Star, which is currently filming its third season ahead of its January premiere.
"I'm very excited to be back on the air in January. We have spent almost all of Fox and Disney’s money already on the first three episodes. It is very good to spend a fortune on a TV show to make it look insane," Lowe quips. "We're doing a gigantic ice storm blizzard... Whenever you go and see movie magic happening, even at my level of experience, it's still magic."
"To see the scope of what we are doing, kids being trapped under ice, and building collapses with snow on them, me getting caught in a white out in the mountains, you cannot believe it is real. It is not, but it is pretty damn cool to be a part of," he continues. "We have a lot of big set piece action that I think we do particularly well on in this 9-1-1 world."
Lowe's also a spokesperson for Atkins, a lifestyle he feels passionately about.
"I have been living the Atkins lifestyle for years, before I even got into business with them. It's fun and authentic for me to share that with people... For me it's really trying to cut those carbs, try to keep the sugar low," he says of staying in shape. "It's not fun all the time, but we just launched this today, the #AtkinsSmallWins... You've gotta set yourself up for success. It's progress rather than perfection."
"I've been trying to take care of myself for a long time and I think, when you invest in that, you start to see the results the older you get," Lowe adds.
On the personal side, Lowe has been married to his wife, Sheryl Berkoff, for 30 years. Despite his successful relationship, Lowe notes that his sons, John, 26, and Edward, 28, aren't interested in his words of wisdom when it comes to dating.
"What I'm learning is they don't wanna hear my advice. They're very much like, 'Dad, stay out of my dating life. We are grown men.' By the way, all true," Lowe says. "I look back at what I was doing at their ages and they're way ahead of me in terms of their growth and who they are as men... I remember my parents trying to weigh in and you're like, 'Get out of here!'"
While his kids may not be interested in it, Lowe tells ET that the secret to his long-lasting marriage is twofold: choosing the right spouse and sticking it out when things get tough.
"If you chose the right partner, you are so far ahead of the game," Lowe says. "And then... [you need to be] realistic in that you know there's gonna be days where it'll be tough and days where you're like, 'Oh really?' The days that are wonderfully beautiful are going to outnumber those, but I think people bail sometimes when things get really, really difficult."
"You need to know, I think, that nothing is perfect," he continues. "You have to make a choice. Are you going to stay, and fight, and value what you have, or are you going to run? I am just super happy that Sheryl's put up with me all these years, and I love her, and I put up with her. We just keep making it happen. I’ve just never been happier."
Tune in to Wednesday's episode of Entertainment Tonight for more of ET's interview with Rob Lowe.
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