After losing his mother earlier this week, Robert Downey Jr. decided a “generic” obituary wouldn’t be enough to honor her by. So the actor took to Facebook yesterday to pen an honest, emotional tribute to Elsie Ann Downey, who died on Monday at the age of 80.
Downey Jr. began the post by explaining that the loss has been weighing heavily on him amidst publicity for his latest movie.
“As promotion for ‘The Judge’ kicks off this weekend, I feel the need to run the risk of over sharing,” he began. “My mom passed away early this week. I wanna say something about her life, and a generic “obit” won’t suffice.”
He went on to share intimate details about his mother’s life, including anecdotes about her struggling career as a theater actress and her short-lived marriage to Downey Jr.’s father, filmmaker Robert Downey Sr.
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The “Iron Man” star also revealed that his mother suffered from her own harsh struggles with addiction. After she eventually got clean, she inspired him to do the same.
“While I strived to have the kind of success that eluded her, my own addiction repeatedly forbade it,” Downey Jr. wrote. “In the summer of 2004, I was in bad shape. She called me out of the blue, and I admitted everything. I don’t remember what she said, but I haven’t drank or used since.”
During his mother’s final years, Downey Jr. said that she was a constant presence in his children’s life, cherishing her role as a grandmother despite battling a host of health problems. His touching tribute concluded with an affectionate sketch of the woman he owed his life to, and a plea for readers to reach out to their own mothers, no matter how flawed they may be.
“She was my role model as an actor, and as a woman who got sober and stayed that way,” he wrote. “She was also reclusive, self-deprecating, a stoic Scotch-German rural Pennsylvanian, a ball buster, stubborn, and happy to hold a grudge. My ambition, tenacity, loyalty, ‘moods,’ grandiosity, occasional passive aggression, and my faith… that’s all her… and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“If anyone out there has a mother, and she’s not perfect, please call her and say you love her anyway.”
Read the post in full below or via Facebook.
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