HOLLYWOOD -- Robert Downey Jr. insists he is no longer running drag or crying wolf.
"In prison lingo, if a person is acting like they're doing one thing but actually doing another, it's called running drag, like in a drag strip," says Downey, whose two jail terms have given him first-hand knowledge of prison language. "I was running drag for a long time. I was crying wolf. I kept saying I wanted to clean up my act and get off the drugs, but I really didn't."
Downey, 38, says he first entered drug rehab in 1988 when he was 23, having begun experimenting with marijuana at age eight. "I've been in and out of rehab ever since I was 23. I never used drugs when I was working, but I'd slip back between jobs. When things got too bad or when someone intervened, I'd go back into rehab for a while and get clean."
In 1996, Downey hit the wall for the first time.
When he was stopped for speeding, the arresting officers found heroin, crack cocaine and an unloaded gun.
He won parole but violated it twice, sending him to prison twice.
"I'm doing great now. I'm showing up for all my therapy and all my programs. I'm in love again and I have a son who loves me. Those are the kind of motivators I need in my life."
Downey became romantically involved in Montreal earlier this year with Susan Levin, the producer of the thriller Gothika, which he was filming there.
"She is so important in my life because she has a real life. To be part of her life I have to be in reality, too. It's cool. It's something I've avoided most of my life."
Downey hints that the ring he bought Levin for her birthday "could be an engagement ring -- but then again it could just be a ring."
The other calming influence in Downey's life is his 10-year-old son, Indio. He is divorced from Indio's mother, Deborah Falconer, but insists they are "good friends. No, make that 'very good friends.' I've always been a good dad when I'm taking care of myself. These days I'm taking very good care of myself. I love being with my son, taking him to school, going camping together and shouting at his soccer games."
Downey stars in the surreal drama The Singing Detective, which just opened. He plays a mystery writer in hospital with a debilitating disease.
Based on the British mini-series, The Singing Detective features Downey singing, dancing and railing at the world, all the time trying to solve mysteries.
The movie has him singing the praises of his friend Mel Gibson, who produced the film and co-stars as a balding psychiatrist.
"Mel Gibson came to me and told me he had secured the film rights to The Singing Detective as a project for me.
"He said: 'I believe in you, man. I'll be there for you. You're gonna prove to people you're back to stay. Mel's been there for me for a very long time. As afraid of the role as I was, I wouldn't have said no to Mel."
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