Rob Lowe and Michael J Fox’s star-studded drug bust: “It was like a clown car”
These days, Michael J Fox has a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. In addition to being known for his role in the greatest film series of all time, Stuart Little – oh, and Back to the Future as well – the actor is an inspirational campaigner for those affected by Parkinson’s disease, a condition with which he was diagnosed in 1991. Fox seems like a thoroughly lovely human being, but his history hasn’t always been so wholesome.
The Canadian rose to fame as a young man on TV shows like the sitcom Family Ties before a last-minute stroke of luck landed him the part of Marty McFly. Like many other adolescents who find themselves in the entertainment business, he had his fair share of run-ins with the law, including one incident that also involved Brat Pack member Rob Lowe.
On an episode of Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes), Lowe recalled a time when he and Fox got busted by the long arm of the law. “We got pulled over for speeding,” he said. “Well, also because Michael J Fox and I were smoking pot out of the top of the Greyhound bus roof.” That’s already enough of an anecdote as it is, but Lowe had more to say.
“The cop pulled us over, and it was like a clown car,” he elaborated. “Out came Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Judd Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey Jr, Jane Fonda, and Danny Glover.” Lowe only admitted that he and Fox were smoking out the top of the bus, but looking at the list of those involved, it’s probably safe to assume that several other misdemeanours were taking place aboard the vehicle.
Why were all these famous people on the same bus? Were they going on vacation? Were they in a movie together? Unfortunately not. Although, if there’s a producer reading this who wants to make that happen, you have everyone’s full support. Instead, they were promoting support for ‘Proposition 65’, a bill aimed at tightening up California’s waste-dumping laws in an attempt to improve water quality. According to Lowe, this bus was one of two ‘Clean Water Caravans’ touring the state in an effort to draw attention to the upcoming vote. This would have been in 1986, so he would have just starred in St Elmo’s Fire, and Fox would have just had his breakout year with both Back to the Future and Teen Wolf.
Lowe didn’t explain what happened after the cops pulled them over, but the officers were probably so starstruck that they just let them drive away without incident. As the title of the podcast suggests, Harrelson was not there to co-host with his former Cheers co-star, which is a shame because he and Fox have their own wild shared history that would have made for quite the story.
Both Fox and Lowe have settled down considerably since their days of partying hard, but it’s important to remember that these two reached the heights of fame at a time when excess and recklessness were celebrated. They might be cuddly, middle-aged men now, but back in the day, they could raise hell just as well as anyone.
