Jimmy Kimmel made an awkward quip about Robert Downey Jr.’s drug addiction during his Oscars 2024 monologue Sunday night.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career — well, one of the highest points,” the evening’s host quipped as the camera panned to the “Oppenheimer” star.
Downey Jr. then tapped on his nose twice, perhaps in reference to his past cocaine addiction, to which Kimmel responded, “Too on the nose? Or is that a drug motion you made?”
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The “Iron Man” star, who is nominated for his role as Lewis Strauss in the Best Supporting Actor category at this year’s Academy Awards, then made a rolling motion with his hands to push the late-night host to keep the monologue moving.
Downey Jr., 58, has come a long way since he was imprisoned as inmate P50522 in 1999, when he was sentenced to three years behind bars amid his struggle with illicit substances.
The “Avengers” actor has been sober since July 2003 but has never shied away from talking about his troubled past.
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Over the summer, he told “Parenthood” alum Dax Shepard on his “Armchair Expert” podcast that prison was like “being sent to a distant planet where there is no way home until the planets align.”
Downey Jr. was first arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum. He was sentenced to three years of probation and required to undergo mandatory drug testing.
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The “Tropic Thunder” star, however, skipped a drug test and had to spend four months in Los Angeles County jail, which prompted his first wife, Deborah Falconer, to leave him.
Despite the initial punishment, Downey Jr. skipped yet another drug test and landed the 3-year sentence at a state prison in California.
“You could just feel the evil in the air, and that was no trouble at all because it was kind of like just being in a really bad neighborhood,” Downey Jr. told Shepard. “There was no opportunity there. There was only threats.”
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Unfortunately, his drug abuse didn’t end there, as Downey Jr. was arrested on drug charges in April 2001 after Los Angeles police found him in an alleyway.
Production behind the hit show “Ally McBeal” fired him and he was sent to rehab.
With help from his friends, including since-disgraced actor Mel Gibson, the “Sherlock Holmes” star sobered up and eventually met his second and current wife, Susan Levin, whom he’s described as his “bedrock, touchstone and lucky stars.”
Downey Jr. and Levin married in a star-studded wedding in the Hamptons in 2005 that featured performances by Billy Joel and Sting.
“Susan is his blessing,” a source close to Downey Jr. told Pvnew.
The couple share son Exton, 12, and daughter Avri, 9. He’s also father to son Indio, 30, whom he shares with Falconer.
