Robert Downey Jr. has a famous quote, when you try to explain to the judge, in 1999, his addiction to drugs, "is like having a loaded gun in your mouth and your finger on the trigger, you know that at any time be shoot but I like the taste of gun metal "
Since the late 1980's, Downey developed an addiction to drugs (among which are crack, heroin, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, LSD and Alcohol), the actor himself says it was his father who introduced him to the consumption of marijuana when he was a child, at the age of 8 years. In 1980, he had attended for the first time at a rehabilitation center, who left soon after to no avail.
In 1996, the lifetime of Downey took an unexpected turn, though predictable for friends, family and people close to the actor. He was arrested in Los Angeles lead to speeding and possession of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and crack cocaine and an unloaded gun. He was released on conditional bail of 5,000 U.S. dollars. Before being scheduled for trial on those charges was arrested again, mistakenly entering the house of his neighbor and remain unconscious in this. Had consumed both alcohol and drugs, health care she needed to regain consciousness. He was sent to a rehabilitation center was defined as hearing date for his 2 arrests, but only 4 days after he was arrested by security officers of a rehabilitation center, a few hours after escaping through a window of this and hitchhiking.
On July 29, 1996, was presented to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, to answer the charges of the two arrests. He was sentenced to 3 years probation and sent to a rehabilitation center to serve a mandatory drug program. These events impacted very negatively on your career, consider a person at high risk (because he could no longer be insured by any manufacturer). In 1997 he was sentenced to 113 days in jail for refusing to take several drug tests and constant violations of probation. In his time in prison, was subjected to a forced detoxification, which sometimes kept him out of his cell. Furthermore, the time spent in prison Downey got into several fights with other inmates broke causing the nose after a fight.
On June 22, 1999, was sent back to rehab by the Court after failing to appear at another drug test. His parole was suspended again in August of that year, which caused him a sentence of 11 months in prison for criminals serving with addiction problems.
In mid-2000, was released and immediately received an offer to appear in 8 episodes of the series Ally McBeal. During that time he was arrested in the rest of the filming, on the weekend of Thanksgiving 2000. The arrest took place in Palm Springs, California, while the actor, depressed and surrounded by people she met at the hotel where he stayed, started smoking crack, cocaine, injecting heroin and alcohol for 24 hours until the morning of 25 November, when an anonymous call to the local police, apparently of the same people I had shared the weekend, he had two officers searched his room and found illegal substances in addition to controlled drugs hidden in a box of tissues.
His work in the television series continued through the arrest did not put him behind bars and was set free, to pay a $ 15,000 bond. But the April 24, 2001, the turbulent life of the actor and his obvious addiction crisis did fall once more arrested, this time, was found in an alley behind a hotel in the suburb of Culver City, Los Angeles; while wandering after midnight, a police officer was arrested and later taken examinations of blood and urine showed that it was under the influence of various narcotics. After that incident, was dismissed from the series where she worked, forcing producers to write a forced end of the season, which eventually led to the definitive cancellation of the show.
Thanks to a new California state law could avoid being sent to jail again, but had access to the court, forcing him to live in a rehabilitation center. On July 16, 2001, his lawyers did not contest the charge of possession of more drugs and misdemeanor charge of poisoning substances, for which obtained the agreement of three years of probation and the condition of minimum term rehabilitation 1 year. It is assumed that domestic remained in an undisclosed rehabilitation unit until 2002, when free from addictions returned to acting.
Although his career early in the new millennium was well affected to be considered a high risk player, has managed to stay clean since then, regaining control of their personal and professional life. It is now listed by the magazine Time as one of the most influential personalities in the world, to overcome their addiction problems.
