Author sheds light on Robert Downey Jr.'s dark past

Robert Downy Jr. had a terrible past, as his biographer shed light on what he faced when he was sent to jail.

He was first arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded handgun.

With a struggle with drug addiction, the Iron Man star had spent a total of nineteen months in jail after he twice failed to face a court-ordered drug test.

Speaking to The Mirror, Ben Falk said, “He went to a few different places, there's the ones which are the county jails, which are pretty brutal. That's where people get held in remand and that's where you're mixing with a lot of really unpleasant people."

The author revealed that the Oscar winner was reluctant to talk about what he experienced behind bars.

"No one really cares that you're a movie star in there. When he went up to Corcoran, which is much more a sort of drug orientated place, I would imagine he was scared and it was pretty terrifying. If you haven't seen pictures of it, it's a terrifying place," Ben said.

The writer also suggested the judge was trying to encourage him to be "shocked into changing his life." 

He continued, "And it still took a whole bunch of years after he came out of prison for him to do that. But I think even though it would have been scary and and difficult and strange."

"And one day he'll tell us all exactly what happened there, but I think it was the shock that he needed, especially someone who was just so used to everything going his own way," Ben concluded.