Sarah Jessica Parker & Robert Downey Jr.’s Relationship Defined
This put up incorporates dialogue of substance abuse.
Sarah Jessica Parker has been married to her actor husband Matthew Broderick for 26 years, with the 2 tying the knot in 1997 — a yr earlier than Sarah Jessica first graced our screens as Intercourse and the Metropolis’s Carrie Bradshaw.
However earlier than discovering her fortunately ever after with Matthew, Sarah Jessica endured a tumultuous seven-year romance with fellow actor Robert Downey Jr.
Each stars have been 18 years previous after they first met in 1984, they usually moved in collectively after only a few weeks of courting.
Nevertheless, Robert was scuffling with drug and alcohol habit on the time, and each he and Sarah Jessica have since admitted that his substance abuse led to the breakdown of their relationship.
In 2008, Robert instructed Parade journal: “I liked to drink, and I had a drug problem, and that didn’t jibe with Sarah Jessica, because it is the furthest thing from what she is. She provided me a home and understanding. She tried to help me. She was so miffed when I didn’t get my act together.”
And in a 2009 look on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, Sarah Jessica revealed that she stayed with Robert for so long as she did as a result of she was scared that he would die if she wasn’t there to deal with him.
“You love this person, and you’re afraid they’re going to die if you aren’t there to shore up their base every single solitary day. … I just didn’t want him to die,” she shared. “The biggest, hardest choices about those kinds of relationships are feeling brave enough to leave, even if you think they’re going to die.”
Now Sarah Jessica has shed some extra mild on the dynamic between her and Robert after they have been courting, and he or she defined why the connection usually left her feeling “angry and embarrassed.”
The star opened up in a brand new interview with the New Yorker, the place she mentioned that she barely drinks and hasn’t ever taken medicine as a result of she by no means felt it “necessary” to have a rebellious section.
Sarah Jessica instructed the publication that Robert’s substance abuse left her feeling like a mother or father on the age of twenty-two, however she didn’t obtain the respect she deserved from his internal circle.
“People around him would be dismissive of me, but I had given him stability and tried to create a steady heartbeat that allowed him to show up on time,” she mentioned. “That made me angry and embarrassed me.”
This isn’t the primary time that Sarah Jessica has in contrast courting Robert to parenting him. In 2020, she instructed Those that the rocky relationship could have even impacted the way in which that she raises her and Matthew’s youngsters: 20-year-old James and 13-year-old twins Tabitha and Marion.
“Maybe it taught me a little bit about being a parent too, because the things that I ended up caring about, and the way I cared for Downey, were things that might be more suitable for a parent at a certain point,” she mentioned on the time.
Robert’s habit battle continued after his and Sarah Jessica’s break up in 1991, and he spent years out and in of rehabilitation facilities. In 1999, he spent 12 months in jail for repeatedly lacking court-ordered drug exams.
The actor has been sober since 2003, and in 2015 he revealed that he’d reunited with Sarah Jessica in New York Metropolis in a bid to get “closure” after realizing that his notion of his ex had change into “tainted” over time.
“We were able to spend some time together and it was really cool,” he mentioned throughout an look on The Howard Stern Present. “You always have a perception of somebody that you spent a big chunk of your life with and I think it’s typical to the human thing that the further you get away from that in your new relationship, you [unintentionally] taint your perception of the person.”
“Seeing her, I was like, ‘She’s so great and so cool and so funny and so in-command,’” Robert went on. “I got to meet her kids and I saw the way she and [Matthew] live and I respect both of them so much.”
Robert has been married to movie producer Susan Levin since 2005, and collectively they share 11-year-old son Exton Elias and 8-year-old daughter Avri Roel. Robert can be dad to 29-year-old son Indio from his earlier marriage to Deborah Falconer.
In case you or somebody you recognize is scuffling with substance abuse, you may name SAMHSA’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and discover extra sources right here.
