Robert Downey Jr., one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars, has been in the industry for 15 years. With 55 years of film career behind him, having appeared in his first movie in 1970 at the age of five, he can be proud of his career but, even more so, because he escaped the devastation of drugs, which he immersed himself in for many years, starting with trying his first joint at the age of six, a gift from his father…

His life, which will soon see him turn 60 “clean,” might be even more interesting than his film career, although he is a talented, capable, and respected actor, a golden star in the American entertainment industry, with great performances and good films in his portfolio.

Underground Family
Robert Downey Jr., the youngest child in his family, was born in Manhattan on April 4, 1965, to Robert Downey Sr., a well-known underground film director, and his mother Elsie Ann, an actress who was a permanent lead in her husband’s films. Their roots were complex; the father was Jewish, while the mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry.

His First Joint
He spent his childhood in the bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Village in a house filled with alcohol and drugs. As he himself has confessed, he first tried drugs at the age of six. One evening, his father saw him drinking a glass of white wine at home. Instead of taking the glass from him and scolding him, he gave him his first joint to try.

Leaving a Legacy of Demons
His family moved frequently, from London and New Mexico to California and Woodstock, due to his father’s film projects, experiencing both periods of poverty and wealth, as the only income came from his parents’ films. His father was a drug addict and his mother was an alcoholic. As Downey Jr. once said, “When my dad and I did drugs together, it was like he was trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew.” After all, his father wasn’t a conventional artist, and to overcome his own demons, he used drugs for much of his life. Many years later, his father would admit that it was a “terrible stupid mistake” to give his son drugs.

Drugs, Porn, and Documentaries
However, Downey Sr. did other extreme things in raising his son, taking him to film sets where everyone used drugs, and sometimes the films could even be considered pornographic. Among their frequent visitors at their home in Los Angeles were Jack Nicholson, Peter Sellers, and Alan Arkin, as there was marijuana “like rice in the kitchen.” These childhood experiences were documented by Robert Downey Jr. in his film about his relationship with his father.

In the documentary, he sheds light on his troubled upbringing, saying that during the period when he viewed everything through drugs, his addiction to cocaine and heroin was “like having a shotgun in my mouth and my finger on the trigger, and I liked the taste of the metallic weapon.”

Love for His Father
Despite everything, after his father’s death in July 2002, Downey Jr. didn’t blame him, showing that their deep love for each other remained unchanged, and he usually avoids discussing that period or his relationship with his father.

The Advanced and Jessica
At school, his drug and alcohol problems worsened, and he spent his time with the more “advanced” people in his neighborhood, including slightly older and already well-known actors Sean Penn, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez, whom he wanted to emulate. At 16, he dropped out of school to pursue acting, and at 18, with no money in his pocket, he returned to New York to find work. In addition to work, he found Sarah Jessica Parker, with whom he would have a serious relationship for five years until his drug addiction ruined everything.

Charlie and Indio
Though known for his addiction, he received numerous work offers, and Mel Gibson suggested they star together in the 1990 adventure “Air America.” In 1992, he would take another step towards recognition when he played Charlie Chaplin in the biographical film of the same name and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor. That same year, he married model Deborah Falconer, with whom he had his son Indio.

The Bars of Prison
However, the carefree days didn’t last long, and from the mid-’90s, Downey Jr. would face major issues with alcohol and drugs. In 1996, he was arrested while intoxicated for speeding, and he was in possession of heroin, cocaine, and an unloaded gun. The following month, just before his trial, neighbors called the police when they found he had passed out in the bedroom of their 11-year-old son. His wife would leave him, unable to tolerate his addiction and madness, while the judge ordered him into a detox center, from which he escaped only to be arrested and sent back. The nightmare continued, with frequent stints in prison until a judge sentenced him to three years in prison in 1999.

Susan and Kung Fu
His troubles didn’t end there. Producers would fire him, and his life reached a critical point. In 2003, however, he would have the fortune of meeting producer Susan Levin, who told him she would marry him only if he promised to quit drugs for good. Downey Jr. would agree, go into treatment, start meditation and kung fu, and as he now claims, the strongest substance he consumes is caffeine.

Iron Man and Millions
Everything would end like a long nightmare. His career would take off, starting with his performance in the excellent thriller “Zodiac,” and in 2008 he would be chosen to play Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, in the first of the blockbuster superhero films from Marvel Comics. He would become the highest-paid actor, and it is estimated that from his involvement in these productions, he has earned over 350 million dollars.

Finally, an Oscar
Among the superhero and lucrative films, he would also shoot notable and commercially successful mystery films like “Sherlock Holmes” and “Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows,” playing the famous detective, while his last major success was his performance in the Oscar-winning film “Oppenheimer,” which finally won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

In just a few days, Robert Downey Jr. will probably have to give up the “Junior” as he enters his seventh decade of life. A life he owes, in many ways, to Mel Gibson, who saved him from the nightmare of drugs, but also to himself for finding the strength to pull himself up from rock bottom and rise to the top of the American film industry.