Robert Downey Jr’s Drug Abuse In The 90s Had His Friends Concerned, But He Laughed At Their Pleas To Slow Down, Sean Penn Once Intervened ( Photo Credit – Flickr )
Advertisement
Robert Downey Jr is a name known by tens of millions across the globe. The actor – who brought to life Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been a child actor since 1970 and will soon be seen in the 2023 release Oppenheimer. Given his long filmy career, the actor hasn’t been in the press for only the good but the bad as well.
In the 90s, Robert was regularly in the headlines owing to his drug and alcohol abuse as well as his few run-ins with the law – resulting in him being behind bars for a while too. In fact, reports suggest that his substance abuse was so bad that he would use drugs in-between film breaks. Today, we are talking about this dark period of RDJ’s life and how the people close to him – like Jodie Foster and Sean Penn, reached out to help him.
In an article carried by fandomwire, the site reported that when Robert Downey Jr was filming Jodie Foster’s Home for the Holidays, he would use up the time between film breaks to abuse black tar heroin. As mentioned in the docuseries, Robert Downey Jr.: The Price of Fame, following this substance abuse on set, the director wrote RDJ a heartfelt note stating that she was worried about his future.
In the Robert Downey Jr docuseries, radio host Kellie Rasberry revealed that the actor just laughed at Foster’s note. According to journalist Raha Lewis, the note talked about how Jodie Foster was worried about Downey’s next project and his future. It read, “You’re doing great on this film, but I know you’re loaded. And I’m not worried about you now, I’m worried about the next project, and what comes up next for you.”
Not only Judia Foster but other friends RDJ were also concerned for him and kept an eye on his wellbeing. This included actor Sean Penn, who had made many attempts to talk the Iron Man actor out of the drug and alcohol abuse lifestyle. He eventually even had an intervention for him. Recalling his meeting with RDJ in prison, Sean once told Vanity Fair, “His humour was well intact. He seemed like a guy doing time, one day at a time. Robert’s always been a hard read, though, because of his sense of humor. It’s difficult for someone to say something as silly as ‘Boy, he’s doing great!’”
Further talking about Robert Downey Jr, he said, “But given that, he looked great and he made me laugh a lot… I felt that a sentence was needed—something had to happen—but now it’s entering what you’d call cruel and unusual punishment.” He added, “We need Robert Downey free! We need him, just selfishly speaking, as an actor. His talent raises the bar. And the bar has dropped so low ever since they put him behind bars.”
Robert Downey Jr. eventually turned his life around and has now left the bad days far behind him – and his fans couldn’t be any prouder.
