Rob Lowe: Doing Drug Scene in Sex Tape Was "Weird," Has Been Sober For 24 Years

The actor talks about acting high with Cameron Diaz

Rob Lowe continues to be one of the coolest guys in Hollywood.

Not only does the 50-tear-old actor appear in a movie called Sex Tape (in theaters on Friday, July 18) despite his controversial sex tape past, but also in said movie, he had to act high when his character does lines of cocaine.

Lowe has been very open about is own sobriety and recovery of more than two decades.

"That was weird," Lowe told me at the Sex Tape premiere about shooting the scene. "I'm sober 24 years now, so dong those hardcore drugs in the movie and we shot it as the sun was coming up, it was like, ‘Wait a minute, this seems vaguely familiar to me—all we need are the birds."

In the Jake Kasdan–directed comedy about a suburban couple (Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel) who accidentally upload their three-hour sex tape to friends and family members' iPads , Lowe plays Diaz's very conservative prospective employer who also has a naughty side filled with cocaine, booze and more.

"I had Cameron to work with," Lowe said. "We had so many laughs. This is one of the most fun quick experiences I've had in a movie."

Lowe's sobriety began with a stint in rehab in 1990.

"I loved it," said in April during an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Oprah Prime. "I don't know what that says about me. I didn't love the fact that I had to go and it was absolutely painful, but I liked the science. I couldn't have gotten sober without rehab because I needed the science. I needed to [learn about] addiction and what it does to your body and all of the research and the things like that."

The former Parks and Recreation star continued, "A lot of people can do it through 12-step programs alone—I wouldn't have been one of them, although I believe in them. I needed to do the work."