Melissa Gilbert Reflects on ‘Tumultuous’ Relationship With ’80s Icon originally appeared on Parade.
Melissa Gilbert didn’t hold back while detailing her “tumultuous” relationship with ex Rob Lowe.
While appearing on the Tuesday, July 29, episode of the “I Choose Me” podcast, Gilbert, 61, and host Jennie Garth looked back on having their “earliest relationships in the spotlight.”
“I guess looking back on those six years, I mean, I was such a baby when Rob and I were together. I was 17 and we broke up for the last time when we were 23 and it was very tumultuous,” Gilbert said of her romance with Lowe, 61, whom she dated from 1981 to 1987.
Gilbert added that they faced several obstacles as Lowe’s fame increased following the success of his 1983 film The Outsiders.
“I felt like a bit of an old sage in the business at that point because I’d been doing it for so long,” she said. “And I was still on Little House on the Prairie when we met, and it had already been years, and he was sort of starting out. He’d done a little bit of television. And so I was able to sort of sit back and watch this meteoric rise happen.”
Gilbert added that she wasn’t “prepared for the stuff that came with” Lowe’s level of fame. “I was prepared for all of having to go to premieres and things and award shows and all of that, but I wasn’t prepared for the fandom and frankly, the girls,” she said.
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She explained that she “always thought that every girl and woman was [her] sister,” though it was “not evident” that she and Lowe were romantically involved. “I mean, it was like I didn’t exist,” Gilbert said. “They just pushed right past me and stick phone numbers in his pockets and stuff.”
“To say it was disconcerting is doing it a big disservice,” the former child star admitted. “It was hard and horrible. I think I learned a lot about what didn’t work for me, actually, and what I wouldn’t stand for later on.”
While many of the experiences from their relationship “hurt,” Gilbert said that she learned “valuable and important lessons.” Additionally, she acknowledged that she and Lowe “had some really, really, really fun times” together.
Melissa Gilbert Reflects on ‘Tumultuous’ Relationship With ’80s Icon first appeared on Parade on Jul 31, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
