Robert Downey Jr. and Wife Susan Open Up About Their Relationship

How the actor and his producer wife are perfect partners in life and work.

ByABC News
October 2, 2014, 2:46 PM
Actor Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Producer Susan Downey, arrive for the Los Angeles premiere of "The Judge" in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Oct. 1, 2014.
Actor Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Producer Susan Downey, arrive for the Los Angeles premiere of "The Judge" in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Oct. 1, 2014.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Oct. 2, 2014— -- intro: In many ways Robert Downey Jr. and his producer wife Susan Downey couldn't be more opposite.

But, in a rare joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the successful Hollywood couple gave a glimpse into how they've become perfect partners in life and work.

Married since 2005, the couple are expecting their second child, a girl--their son, Exton, was born in 2012--and have just produced their first feature together, "The Judge," which stars Downey and Robert Duvall.

"Our feeling was, if we wanted to spend time together, have a life together, then we should just go ahead and make movies together," Susan told the magazine of their reason for starting their production company Team Downey.

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Added Robert, "Susan holds one pillar and I hold the other, and this creative arc of tension just flows between us."

Here are five of the biggest revelations from their joint interview:

quicklist:title: Susan Thought Robert Was Weird text: Susan, 40, recalled meeting Robert, 49, in 2003 on the set of the Halle Berry thriller "Gothika," which Susan was producing. "We were up in Montreal prepping for Gothika, and we had lunch with the director and Halle Berry," she told THR. "Everybody else ordered Japanese, but Robert told us how oatmeal was the 'superfood.' He brought his own packets of oatmeal to have at lunch. And he had this box of various herbs and stuff. And then he started doing these yoga moves. I mean, he was interesting but weird."

quicklist:title: Robert Proposed After Three Monthstext: Despite her reservations, Susan agreed to go on a date with Robert. Within three months, he was proposing marriage, even though he wasn't yet divorced from model-singer Deborah Falconer, with whom he has a son Indio. Eventually, Susan agreed to marry Robert but insisted they have a long engagement: two years.

quicklist:title: Susan Laid Down the Law on Robert's Drug Usetext: Susan, who grew up in a Chicago suburb an honor student, had never puffed on a cigarette, much less suffered a drug problem. Whereas, Downey's addiction battle is well known. When she agreed to marry him, Susan insisted that Robert give up drugs completely, and if he messed up, she'd leave. "Addiction was so foreign to me," she told THR. "I was incredibly ignorant of the hold it had on people." Robert replied, "Thank God for that. If she knew the depths of my depravity, we would not be sitting here."

quicklist:title: Robert Credits Susan with Being the Architect of his "Great Transition."text: Now the highest-paid actor in Hollywood (after earning $75 million in 2014 from backend off of "Iron Man 3"), Robert credits Susan with his "Great Transition." "She is the font of all good things," he told THR. "Before I met Susan, I didn't even know what producers did, except yell at you when you did something they didn't like. Now that I understand what they do, she's the only one I want." Director Guy Ritchie revealed that it was Susan who facilitated Robert being cast as Sherlock Holmes, paving the way for his comeback.

quicklist:title: How Robert Changed Susantext: "I was very focused, driven, rigid, work-oriented," Susan said of her life before Downey. "I didn't care about having a family or making a home. I didn't think about kids. It's not that I didn't want those things, I just didn't think about them. And then I had someone who came in as a tornado, this creative, beautiful ball of insane energy and passion. And it completely opened me up."