Rob Lowe says sex tape 'greatest thing'

CALLING himself a trailblazer, actor Rob Lowe says that his celebrity sex tape was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

CALLING himself a trailblazer, US actor Rob Lowe says that his celebrity sex tape was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

But Lowe said it wasn't his career that benefited - instead it was his health.

"Because what it ends up doing is accelerating my alcohol (addiction) to where I finally get sober," Lowe said on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"I have been able to have the rest of my life that I'm so blessed with, which is now 20 years of sobriety.

"I don't think any of it would have happened without that."

Lowe, who is currently appearing on comedy Parks and Recreation, said he went into hiding after the tape was leaked to the media.

"Let me just say this," Lowe said. "Sometimes being a trailblazer is highly overrated."

Released in 1989, it featured Lowe, a friend and two females - one who was later revealed to be just 16 years old.

Lowe, now 47, was 22 at the time and he met the girl in a nightclub that required its patrons to be at least 21 years old.

"So there's no way I would have ever thought anybody in the club would be underage," he explained.

Lowe, who was a member of the 1980s group of young actors known as the Brat Pack, was promoting his autobiography titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

He also explained why he walked away from one of the biggest roles of his life, that of Sam Seaborn on White House drama The West Wing.

"I don't really know where it began to, sort of, go wrong," Lowe said.

"Really at the end of the day the real bottom line is when everybody (his castmates) got a raise in success and they didn't want to give me one.

"I want my kids when they are in something that is cool, and lauded, and everybody is paying attention and it is the greatest thing that ever happened to them but if behind the scenes they are not being respected then I want them to leave."