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Robert Downey Jr has told how meeting his wife saved him from his drug-fuelled oblivion and gaving up on the idea of his Hollywood career.
The Iron Man star who is set to become the World’s highest-paid actor, told how he lost his way following several arrests and a stint in jail for drug offenses.
His second wife, Susan, showed the actor discipline for the first time and he was finally able to kick a long drug addiction.
He said: “I wish I’d had proper discipline in my life at 18. When I finally had some, from my wife Susan, I realised how much easier things could have been.
“People who understand drug abuse know that you are not dealing with a rational mind. My attitude was always, ‘f*** it. I don’t care. I don’t care about fame. I don’t care if I f*** up my career. It’s not important to me.’
“I met my wife in 2003 in Montreal on the film Gothika, which she was producing. She was in no hurry to get involved at all. In fact, she was not looking for a relationship and admits she thought I was ‘strange’.
“She has since given me a sense of life and order. At the end of the day, I find that I am really a conventional guy.
“I like laying out my clothes the night before and I like the thought of saying ‘this means something’. For some years, nothing made sense.
“I think ,now, that if I had to pick half of my life to have regrets about, it’s much better that it’s the first half. I’ve had time to clean up.
“I see well-known people in Los Angeles around my age or a little older that have never seemed to make a false move in the past. But they are now coming unravelled.
“None of this is making headlines, yet, but my point is that life can have some strange twists and turns and you never know when things will change.
“I felt like that when I met Susan. I had been in Los Angeles for exactly 20 years and suddenly there was a sense of life having cycles and circles.”