Why did Melissa Gilbert and Rob Lowe break up? What we know as actress recalls surreal incident involving actor

At the height of their fame, Melissa Gilbert and Rob Lowe seemed like the quintessential Hollywood couple. But behind the scenes, their relationship was far more complicated. Lowe has acknowledged he cheated on Gilbert more than once, including with actress Demi Moore, his co-star in the 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire. Gilbert had read for the role opposite him in About Last Night, but director Ed Zwick ultimately chose Moore, saying the two looked better together.

Yet, it wasn’t the affairs that caused their final breakup. As revealed in a report by Us Weekly, the split came in 1987, the same year both actors turned 23. By then, they were engaged. When Gilbert shared the news of her unplanned pregnancy, Rob Lowe admitted he wasn’t prepared to be a father. The relationship ended soon after.

Gilbert later miscarried, a loss she described in her memoir as nothing short of shattering.

“I had lost my baby and my relationship with Rob, it hurt like hell,” she wrote.

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Melissa Gilbert shares surreal Hollywood story involving Michael Jackson and a llama

During a recent podcast appearance with Patrick Labyorteaux, Melissa Gilbert dipped into the kind of story that sounds like it was pulled from a Hollywood fever dream, except it was real.

At the time, Gilbert was still dating Rob Lowe. She had gone to see Patrick Swayze perform with her agent, Michael Black, who also happened to represent Rob Lowe. After the show, the group met up with Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy at Spago, the iconic L.A. hotspot.

Then, everything took a surreal turn.

“And then there was a commotion at the door, and Liza Minnelli came in and beelined and sat down at our table,” Gilbert told Labyorteaux.

“She was hiding alcoholic beverages — cuz she wasn’t supposed to be drinking — by putting them in front of me, so at one point I had four wines and three screwdrivers in front of me,” she added.

The evening got wilder. Minnelli’s sister, Lorna Luft, came looking for her, prompting Minnelli to crawl under the table, still drinking. Just as things couldn’t get stranger, Michael Jackson walked in and took a seat with them.

Gilbert admitted she was feeling nervous and thought about leaving, but Rob Lowe convinced her to stay. Then, out of nowhere, Jackson, who hadn’t spoken a word all night, made an unexpected offer.

“You can come to my house, I got a llama,” he said.

In the end, they passed on the llama and wound up at Sammy Davis Jr.’s house instead.

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Rob Lowe shares reason for omitting Melissa Gilbert from memoir

According to a report by Showbiz CheatSheet, Rob Lowe addressed why his former relationship with Melissa Gilbert received little attention in his memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

“I didn’t write the book to set the record straight or to settle scores, that’s such bullsh*t,” he told the Independent.

Lowe made it clear that his intent wasn’t to rehash old conflicts or reshape public perception.

“There have been a few people in my life who have written books over the years, I know people get really upset about it, but I don’t because I believe everyone is entitled to their own perspective on their life,” he said.

He went on to explain that his approach was driven by tone rather than omission.

“Okay, I might go, ‘I wish they hadn’t said that’ or ‘I wouldn’t have done that,’ but that’s a factor of taste and style, my book has a decorum, and that meant a lot of stuff didn’t get in the book, but that’s OK,” he explained.

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