In the 1990s, Robert Downey Jr. spent time in prison due to his drug and alcohol problems. The Iron Man interpreter candidly returned to this complicated moment in his life.
Robert Downey Jr played the card of transparency. Recently interviewed in Armchair Expert, a successful podcast across the Atlantic, the interpreter of Iron Man, soon to star in the film Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan, spoke candidly about his years spent in prison in the 1990s. The actor was arrested in 1996 for possession of drugs and weapons. Three years later, after violating his parole, Robert Downey Jr. was sentenced to three years in prison, but ultimately only stayed 15 months behind bars.
This experience of one year and three months will however have been significant for Downey Jr. The 58-year-old American actor says he was sent to a detention center, which then determines which penal establishment each criminal goes to: “It’s without probably the most dangerous place i have ever been in my life […] whether it’s a level 1, 2, 3 or 4 criminal, [tout le monde est là]”, he explained. “You could smell the evil in the air.” The actor who has since evolved in the Marvel franchise as Tony Stark, described the place as a “neighborhood really dangerous. There were no opportunities, only threats.”
Subsequently, Robert Downey Jr. was transferred to the correctional facility where he spent “over a year”: “Walking in the yard where you are going to spend over a year for the first time, the most closest I can associate it with is being sent to a distant planet where there’s no way to get home until the planets are aligned.”
Robert Downey Jr. is formal: his incarceration was “one of the worst things” that ever happened to him. Nevertheless, over time, the actor ended up finding his routine and adapting to this change of life. After getting out of prison and quitting drug and alcohol use, Robert Downey Jr. completely changed his life to become one of the most famous actors of his generation.