Actor Rob Lowe identified himself as an “independent moderate” this weekend in an interview with the New York Times.

Lowe, a former Democrat, spoke about his views on government, saying:

“My thing is personal freedoms, freedoms for the individual to love whom they want, do with what they want. In fact, I want the government out of almost everything.”

The former teen heartthrob and current Parks and Recreation actor spoke negatively of political party loyalty as well:

“Belonging to one party is acceptable. But my days of just ticking the party box are long over. I judge the candidates for who they are.”

In the past, Lowe was rumored to be a conservative, even quoting in a 2009 interview the famous phrase, “If you’re young and you’re not a liberal, you have no heart. If you’re older and not a conservative, you have no brain.”

In a 2014 interview with David Gregory, Lowe clarified some of his views saying:

“Just my own world view is that the individual needs to be more responsible for their own lives and that’s not the conversation we’re having right now, for whatever reason.”

He also referenced President John F. Kennedy’s famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” saying that “today . . . our discussion is the inverse . . . people are asking, ‘What can our government do for us?’”

This story was produced by The Foundry’s news team. Nothing here should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation.