Getty Rob Lowe and Sheryl Berkoff
Rob Lowe is the host of the new FOX series Mental Samurai. The actor has been a staple on film and television, but this is the first time he’s led a reality competition. As such, viewers may be curious about Lowe’s personal life and his family. Learn more about his marriage to makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff below.
Lowe and Berkoff met on a blind date in 1983. They lost contact shortly after, but reconnected on the set of the 1990 film Bad Influence, which Lowe starred in and Berkoff was the key makeup artist. They began dating seriously, and married on July 22, 1991. “I admired her work ethic,” Lowe later recalled. “I admired the way she looks at life.” Prior to their meeting, Berkoff dated one of Lowe’s closest friends and St. Elmo’s Fire co-stars: Emilio Estevez.
Lowe and Berkoff Met on a Blind Date In 1983 & Married In 1991
Berkoff began working as a makeup artist in 1985, and her film credits include Frankie and Johnny, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Vanishing, and Ghost In the Machine. Her last credit was on the 2012 TV documentary Who Do You Think You Are? Since then, she has retired from the business, and dedicated her time to raising her family.
Lowe and Berkoff have two children: Matthew, 23, and John, 21. A friend of the couple told Closer Weekly that family has helped Lowe stay clean after gaining a reputation as a party animal in the 1980s. In fact, Berkoff refused to marry the actor unless he quit drinking alcohol, which he agreed to do. “Family means absolutely everything to Rob,” they said. “It’s what’s kept him grounded and sober now for nearly 26 years. It helped Rob organize the priorities in his life.”
Lowe Credits Berkoff With Helping Him Stay Sober for Over 20 Years
In an interview with Haute Living, Lowe admitted that Berkoff helped reshape his life. “I had met my now wife, Sheryl, and was attempting my first try at monogamy — which was not really in my nature at the time — and I wasn’t able to do it,” he said. “It made me examine how I was living my life. That led me to getting sober, which led me to changing my life — giving me everything I now have.”
In a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lowe joked that he sleeps better without Berkoff due to her constant energy. “I sleep better on the road because I’m not with my wife,” he said. “People, it’s the truth. I love her enough to speak the truth… [She] wakes me up like, ‘Honey, honey! Quick, name five foods that are gross.’ I’m like, I just want to go to bed.”