Rob Lowe Admits He Mistakenly Sent Bradley Cooper a Congratulatory Message After Robert Downey Jr.'s Globes Win

Rob Lowe mixed up Bradley Cooper and Robert Downey Jr.'s phone numbers!

When Lowe, 59, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday, he praised his longtime friend Downey Jr., 58, on the actor's recent awards season wins at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards for his performance in Oppenheimer.

Lowe told host Jimmy Kimmel during the appearance that after Downey Jr. won best supporting actor at the Golden Globes on Jan. 7, he made a major texting mishap when trying to reach his former high school classmate to say congratulations.

"You'll love this: so Downey does this amazing acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, and I'm so excited for him," he said. "So I text him, 'So glad you won! That was the most beautiful acceptance speech I have heard in a long time. Boy do you deserve it," and I hit it, and I realize 'oh, s---, I just sent that to Bradley Cooper.' "

Cooper, 49, received nominations for best director and best lead actor in a motion picture at the awards ceremony, but he did not win either award.

"So then I was like, 'Oh I gotta make it better,' and I [write], 'No, I meant that for Robert Downey Jr.,' but that's even worse! I'm making the guy feel worse!" he continued. "Terrible. I'd inputted the wrong numbers under the wrong names." 

When Kimmel asked whether Lowe was able to reach Downey Jr. after the mistaken message, he indicated he somehow accidentally texted Cooper a second time.

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"No — I did it again! I mistakenly sent another one to Bradley. Again," he said, adding that Cooper wrote, "It's fine, I like living vicariously through these mistakes," in response.

Downey Jr. followed up his Golden Globes win with another best supporting actor victory at the Critics Choice Awards last Sunday. He also received a nomination for the 2024 BAFTA Awards Thursday, with Academy Award nomination announcements to come on Tuesday.

"Dozens of folks have come up to me since the summer time saying that I was 'unrecognizably subtle' as [Lewis Strauss]," Downey Jr. said in his acceptance speech at the Globes. "To my fellow nominees, let's not pretend this is a compliment. This is more of a most-improved-player thing."

On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Lowe briefly reminisced that he and Downey Jr. shared a history class together during their junior year of high school. "I'm at that age now where all my friends — when we were kids, all the grown ups won the awards," he said. "And now us, we're the grown ups, we're winning the awards. So to watch Downey go out there and do it, it's just the best."