Robert Downey Jr. Escaping EVIL

THE A-LISTER HAS OPENED UP ABOUT HIS TIME IN JAIL AND HOW HE OVERCAME HIS DEMONS

- Kylie Walters

Long before Iron Man made Robert Downey Jr. a superhero, he was Hollywood’s real-life bad boy. The actor’s drug habit got so out of control in the late ’90s that it even put him in prison, which he unsurprisingly admits is “the worst thing that ever happened to me”.

The legal trouble started for Downey Jr. when he was stopped for speeding in 1996 and authorities found heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun in the car. Following several parole violations, he was sentenced to three years in prison. He went on to serve a total of 15 months in jail, after being placed into a “receiving centre” along with other inmates who were just starting their terms.

“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 neighbourhood,” the 58-year-old told the Armchair Expert podcast in June. “There was no opportunity there. There were only threats.”

When he was finally placed into his long-term facility, Downey Jr. reveals he adapted quite quickly to life on the inside.

“We are programmed to, within a short amount of time, be able to adjust to things that are seemingly impossible,” he said.