Rob Lowe reveals how The Outsiders changed his life

Rob Lowe had women "stealing [his] underwear" after he starred in The Outsiders.

The 62-year-old actor appeared alongside C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise in The Outsiders, the 1983 coming-of-age crime drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and Rob admits that the role completely changed his life.

The Hollywood star told People: "Overnight, with one thing, it changed, and I went from not being on the cool kid list to having girls breaking into my house and stealing my underwear."

Rob recalled that The Outsiders prompted an "explosion of youth in movies and TV".

He explained: "There was no Nickelodeon, none of that existed. So the notion that you could have a career — or, God forbid, be famous — as a kid was foreign, even in Los Angeles. So people didn’t understand what I was trying to do."

Meanwhile, Rob previously cited "resilience" as the key to his longevity in Hollywood.

The actor explained that he's had to overcome a lot during the course of his career.

Asked to name his greatest virtue, Rob told GQ: "My optimism. The optimism leads to resilience and resilience is probably the greatest key for survival of a long career and a happy personal life.

"You get knocked down, you get back up, you have a long day, you're ready to go the next day. It's very valuable."

Rob is well-known for his commitment to health and fitness - but the actor admitted that he likes to indulge occasionally, too.

Asked to name his worst vice, Rob sarcastically replied: "At the moment, my worst vice is waking up in the middle of the night to eat a pint of ice cream. I don't know where that's coming from – I've never had that in my life. But it's my new cross to bear.

"I say to myself, 'You know what would solve this problem? A pint of chocolate ice cream.'"