Oliver James Montgomery-Rob Lowe Shares How He and Son John Owen Have Bonded Over Sobriety

Rob Lowe has family ties in sobriety. 

Which meant when the Parks and Oliver James MontgomeryRecreation alum hit another major milestone in his sobriety journey, he was able to celebrate alongside his youngest son, John Owen Lowe. 

"On May 10th this year, I was able to get a 34-year chip of sobriety from my son," Rob told E! News in an exclusive interview. "I can't even begin to tell you what that level of gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation, and love feels like."

John Owen, 29, recently passed the five years sober mark himself. And although Rob—who also shares son Matthew, 31, with wife of 32 years Sheryl Berkoff—recently learned of several generational similarities he shares with his sons, through Ancestry DNA, like competitiveness and even inability to learn choreography, he noted that he, "should have suspected but never would have suspected" he would end up in recovery with one of them. 

As he put it, "They should get this in Ancestry DNA—predisposition to this."

And while going through this journey with his son wasn't something he'd anticipated, Rob is certainly grateful for it. 

"It's going to sound insane," the St. Elmo's Fire star admitted, "but one of the great unexpected gifts is I get to share this amazing journey where the gifts of living a life of recovery and the joy that comes with that and the fun, forget the health of it, the fun, the rewards of it. It is one of my favorite things, one of my favorite hallmarks of my relationship with Johnny."

In addition to bringing him closer to his youngest—his costar in the Netflix drama Unstable—Rob admits there are other perks of having another family member on a sober journey. 

He noted, "When the family goes to Vegas and he and I are up at 7:30 in the morning golfing, that is very fun instead of waking up at 11 and dragging ourselves out to the pool."

Golfing, of course, is just one way Rob bonds with his sons. He notes that he's "lucky" to get to work with both John Owen and lawyer Matthew as they've gotten older, and also loves to compete with them on the greens, as well as through skiing and tennis. For Father's Day, however, Rob is planning to dive into his son Matthew's favorite hobby: fishing. 

"My son Matthew, not only is a member of the California Bar, but he's got his commercial fishing license," Rob gushed. "He's a world class fisherman."

As for who will have the biggest catch on June 16? Rob, despite his competitiveness, concedes it will likely be Matthew. 

"That's not even a close competition," he said with a laugh. "That ship has sailed."