Nate Bargatze Shares What Rob Lowe Said That Helped Him Realize He Had a Problem with Alcohol
Nate Bargatze Shares What Rob Lowe Said That Helped Him Realize He Had a Problem with Alcohol
Cara Lynn ShultzMon, March 23, 2026 at 9:26 PM UTC
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(Left) Nate Bargatze in Nashville in November 2023; (Right) Rob Lowe in Los Angeles in September 2025Credit: Taylor Hill/WireImage; Savion Washington/WireImage -
Nate Bargatze says Rob Lowe's comments about problem drinking encouraged him to examine his own alcohol habits
The comedian shared that it helped him realize that there are "so many levels" of alcohol use disorder beyond "waking up drinking shots of vodka"
Bargatze recalled the conversation to Dax Shepard on the March 23 episode of his podcast, Armchair Expert
Nate Bargatze learned an important lesson from Rob Lowe.
The comedian said he once heard Lowe saying that a person doesn't necessarily have to drink every day to have a problem with alcohol — and it led to an examination of his own drinking habits.
"Rob Lowe on Howard Stern years ago … he said, 'You think alcoholism is, you're waking up drinking shots of vodka,' " the Breadwinner star, 46, told Dax Shepard on the March 23 episode of Armchair Expert. It was that comment from Lowe, who has been sober since 1990, that made Bargatze realize alcohol use disorder can manifest in different ways.
Nate Bargatze at the 2025 Emmy Awards in Los AngelesCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
He shared that he once had a coworker who would drink in the mornings, explaining, "I remember him showing up to work at 7:00 a.m. and was like, [he] shouldn't have driven to work ... it wasn't like he was up all night. He had already started." But Lowe's comments made clear that a person didn't have to drink like his coworker to have a problem with alcohol.
"The level where you have a problem with it, what I liked when Rob Lowe said it wasn't just this extreme thing where you're like, 'I'm drinking 24 hours a day.' I never drink at home. When I was at home, I would never crack a beer open and have a beer or something. Never in a million," the comedian explained. "But it's like, when I was out with friends, I didn't know how to stop."
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While he could go two weeks without drinking, Bargatze said he had issues when he did: "You would just get going and then it was like … it has its own momentum."
"I heard Rob Lowe say that it was like this addiction thing to it. You think it's just driving off a cliff in a car. But it's like, there's so many levels of it," he explained. "All you think is the [person who is] worse than you. And so, then that's what makes you think ... you don't have something. You don't have, like, a problem."
Nate Bargatze performs in Nashville in March 2026Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty
He shared that he quit drinking in 2018, explaining, "I just knew if I wanted to get where I wanted to get, this was in the way."
These days, "food is the one I have now … and that's the one I'm working on now," Bargatze explained. "That's been the hardest for me to get going. Like the eating … I like fast food. I like all this stuff and I just — and you get stressed and then you end up going to it ... it's tough."
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
