Robert Downey Jr. and his father are addressing EVERYTHING of their new documentary.
We all know the 57-year-old Hollywood vet struggled with dependancy earlier than his rise to glory as the worldwide, fan favourite Marvel superhero Iron Man. However, in his new Netflix documentary, Sr., which explores his relationship with father Robert Downey Sr., we study JUST how younger the acclaimed actor was inducted into the world of medication.
In the characteristic, which premiered on the streaming service early this month, Downey Sr. recalled a night of their residence, taking part in poker, when he caught his son sneaking a sip of white wine. However, as an alternative of taking the normal parenting route of reprimanding the kid, he as an alternative supplied Downey Jr., who was six-years-old on the time, a marijuana joint as a replacement… He confessed:
“A lot of us thought it would be hypocritical to not have our kids participate in marijuana and stuff like that. It was an idiot move on our parts to share that with our children. I’m just happy he’s here.”
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An fool transfer to say the least! Your mother and father are purported to be there to guard you, and to information you down the appropriate path — not spiral you down the incorrect one. The Avengers star later mirrored on the irreversible influence his father’s lapse in judgment had on him and his relationship with leisure drug use, admitting by the point he was 8-years-old, he was an addict. The actor then instantly addressed it to his father:
“I think we would be remiss not to discuss its effect on me.”
Downey Sr. regretfully responded:
“Boy, I would sure love to miss that discussion.”
The since-decease filmmaker had beforehand opened up concerning the fateful evening years in the past in a 2000 interview with Vanity Fair, by which he defined:
“We were all sitting around, smoking grass and playing poker down in the old West Village loft, and Robert was staring at me kind of funny. Robert was always an observer of it all, even at a very young age. And I go, ‘You know, you ought to try a little of this instead of drinking.’ I passed him a joint. And suddenly I knew I had made a terrible, stupid mistake… Giving a little kid a toke of grass just to be funny.”
He added:
“The story keeps getting repeated. By now you’d think Robert was Jimmy Cliff‘s dealer at age eight. I’ll never forgive myself.”
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However, it appears as if the youthful Robert doesn’t maintain any unwell will, as his father revealed in the identical interview:
“He’s said to me, ‘I’m not a victim, Dad. I don’t blame anybody.’”
Speaking of his personal struggles with dependancy, the high-profile A-lister confessed being a part of this “drug-culture life that we all got stuck in” again within the late ’80s, particularly across the time of his 1987 film Less Than Zero:
“It was just a wild era. That whole world, it gets tied into creativity. We were all altering our consciousness with substances. I was just kinda playing a game of just wanting to self-soothe or just stay loaded rather than deal with the fact that things had gone off the tracks a little bit. Honestly, more than anything, I look back and go, ‘It’s shocking that a single movie came out finished.’”
You can catch the complete doc on Netflix or try the trailer (under):
We’re positive the documentary’s launch has introduced up loads of feelings for Downey Jr., because the Hugo Pool director handed away in July of final yr at 85 years previous following a battle with Parkinson’s illness. Sr., in loads of methods, serves because the late inventive’s swan music. Will you be checking it out on Netflix? Let us know within the feedback (under).
If you or somebody you already know is experiencing substance abuse, assist is accessible. Consider testing the sources SAMHSA supplies at https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline.
[Images via Netflix & MEGA/WENN]