Though 9-1-1: Lone Star is set in Texas, it actually films in Los Angeles. That’s okay with series star Rob Lowe, who’s happy to go home to his wife of almost 30 years, Sheryl, every night. “Day in and day out, I choose to be with my wife,” says Rob, 56. “I know I’m never going to find anyone I love more, who’s sexier or a better mother.”

In the 1980s, when Rob starred in youth-oriented hits like St. Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night, he led the hard-partying lifestyle of a confirmed bachelor. “People always thought I was going to end up like Warren Beatty in Shampoo,” he admits. “It turned out I was one of the first of my peers to get married and have kids. That guy was in me all the time, but the life I was leading wouldn’t let him out.”

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 Take a Tour of Rob Lowe's Former Custom-Built Mansion With Wife Sheryl

WAKE-UP CALL

Rob first met Sheryl, 59, on a blind date set up by his fellow Brat Packer Emilio Estevez in 1983. Though it went nowhere, Rob was happy to see Sheryl again when she was hired to be the makeup artist on his 1990 film Bad Influence. They began dating and Rob realized he wanted the relationship to work. “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,” he says.

Now 30 years sober, Rob has a thriving career, a satisfying long-term partnership with Sheryl, and the love of the two sons they raised together, Matthew, 27, and John, 25. “The thing in my life that I’m most proud of, for sure, is those two men,” he says.

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He and Sheryl have even discovered the upside to becoming empty nesters — more time alone. “I was blessed and lucky to marry my gorgeous, smart, funny and powerful best friend,” Rob shares. “If you’d have told me then, what we would accomplish together, I would’ve never believed it.”