Rob Lowe reveals friendship with Clarence Thomas in Conan O’Brien podcast

Actor Rob Lowe revealed on Conan O’Brien’s podcast that he is friends with conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, with the former “West Wing” star joking that O’Brien’s “eye vein popped” upon hearing the news.

Lowe, 56, discussed the friendship during a recent episode of “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” 

“Are you guys really close?” a surprised O’Brien asked.

“See. Look at those eyes. That eye vein popped,” replied an amused Lowe. “But he’s a guy people go, ‘You know him?’ “

Lowe said he first met Thomas, 71, during a ceremony at the Supreme Court.

“I got inducted into the Horatio Alger Society a couple years ago,” Lowe said. “It’s a very exclusive, very amazing society that provides scholarships for kids who come from terrible, terrible backgrounds. But they are the best and the brightest in their classes. And the people in it are pretty studly. He’s one of them. That’s how we met. They put the medal on me in the halls of the Supreme Court.”

“Wow. OK,” O’Brien responded.

Lowe then described how they’ve kept in touch.

“He’s like, ‘If you ever need anything, call my number. This is my cellphone,’ ” Lowe said. “And then my son Matthew was going to law school. So I had some ideas about clerking and things like that.”

“So I call this cellphone and he answers it. And you’re like, ‘Jeez, shouldn’t there be, like, a vetting process?’ And 45 minutes he’s giving me advice on what my son should do vis-a-vis law school and clerking,” Lowe added.

Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1991 by a narrow 52-48 vote in the Senate.

Lowe currently stars in two FOX TV programs: “Mental Samurai” and “9-1-1: Lone Star.”

His charitable contributions have been fairly nonpolitical, with donations to hilarityforcharity.org, which supports Alzheimer awareness, as well as Elton John’s AIDS Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.