Rob Lowe finds it "surreal" he inspired Halloween costumes at the peak of his fame

He told People about his reaction to people dressing up as his bratty characters: "It was surreal."

Rob added the first time he spotted strangers in costume as one of his characters was after he played party boy Billy Hicks in 'St Elmo's Fire'.

He said: "I remember being on a balcony, looking down and somebody getting out of a car dressed like my character with a saxophone over their back and the shaggy hair, earring and the Hawaiian shirt."

At his height of his fame, Rob also had fans breaking into his house and stealing his underwear - with police often having to break up screming mobs of his followers.

He added about the period: "It was crazy stuff. It's the kind of stuff you look back on and go, 'Did that really happen?'

"I remember them having to bring me on and off the set of 'St Elmo's Fire' in a police car, and that wasn't the first or only time.

"The stories I have are mental, they're nuts.

"It was an incremental process to occupying that place in the culture that I did in the '80s, and it was a lot.

"I'm super grateful that I can say that I had that in my life, because very few people get to be that person.

"Every decade there's a new crop and society demands it.

"It's fun to watch that unfold having been there.

"Today it would be (Justin) Bieber, Taylor Swift - I don't know if it's Austin Butler - whoever it is today, there's always going to be somebody living that life."