Robert Downey Jr’s wife Susan sets record straight about actor’s addiction

Robert Downey Jr.’s wife, Susan, is giving credit where it’s due.

Speaking to Esquire for their latest cover story, Susan clarified that she had little do with RDJ’s recovery from addiction, despite what the Marvel star has constantly claimed.

“Everybody loves the simple narrative of somehow I came in and turned his life around and blah, blah, blah,” she said.

But Susan asserted that she wasn’t his saviour, but rather that they helped each other grow.

“But I can tell you that I would never be who I am without him in my life. His trajectory is just the easier one to chart because he’s had to live his ups and downs in public,” she noted.

The film producer continued, “When we met, we were fortunate that he was in a place where he was open to do things differently than he had historically. But you know what? So was I.”

Susan’s words shortly after the Iron Man star credited Susan for turning his life around in his acceptance speech for his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Oppenheimer, claiming that his wife “loved me back to life.”

Robert, 59, met Susan, 50, when they were working together on the 2003 horror-mystery film Gothika. RDJ’s addiction issues were still ongoing at that point.

But before they got serious, Susan gave him an ultimatum.

“I said, ‘This isn’t gonna work.’ I made it clear that to stay with me, nothing could happen,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2009.