The gruesome TRUTH about Robert Downey Jr's 'terrible childhood': Inside Oppenheimer star's brutal upbringing - from trying drugs when he was just SIX to his spiral into addiction at 16... as he jokingly credits his misspent youth for his Oscars win

Robert Downey Jr alluded to his 'terrible childhood' during his Oscars acceptance speech after host Jimmy Kimmel made a very awkward quip about his drug use - but just how bad were his early years?

The 58-year-old took home the title of Best Supporting Actor at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer - and was delighted as he took to the stage.

The veteran actor - who has acted for over five decades - took home the Academy Award over stiff competition including Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction, Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon, Ryan Gosling in Barbie, and Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things.

Standing at the podium, with trophy in hand, Downey Jr joked: 'I'd like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy - in that order.'

He also praised wife Susan for 'loving him back to life' having previously credited her for helping him quit drugs for good. 

Robert Downey Jr alluded to his 'terrible childhood' during his Oscars acceptance speech after host Jimmy Kimmel made a very awkward quip about his drug use 

Earlier in the night, host Kimmel had roasted Downey Jr's manhood and past drug use in his bombshell opening monologue.

The host, 56, returning for the fourth time, had left the A-lister audience grinning and cringing in equal measure.

Of the Iron Man star, Kimmel said: 'And Robert Downey Jr, one of the highest points of his career. But Robert has been' - as RDJ pointed at his face, leading Kimmel to add: 'Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made?

'But look at him, he's so handsome, so talented, he's won every award there is to win. 

'Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular penis?'

The 58-year-old took home the title of Best Supporting Actor at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss (pictured) in Oppenheimer 

The joke fell flat as RDJ looked somber while staring at the camera while fans slammed Kimmel for his 'bottom of the barrel' jokes about substance abuse.

But Downey Jr has never been one to shy away from acknowledging his checkered past.

His father first introduced him to drugs at the tender age of just six years old which set him on a chaotic path that destroyed relationships and ultimately landed him in jail. 

Here, FEMAIL has laid bare Downey Jr's troubled upbringing and how he eventually turned his back on drugs for good.

Robert Downey Jr's family lived hand-to-mouth and his father gave him drugs at just six years old

The younger of two children, Downey Jr was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1965 and raised initially in the bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Village, where he says he was 'surrounded' by drugs at home. 

His parents were disciples of the 1960s counterculture and made underground films with mom Elsie appearing in whatever her husband made — once playing all 12 of the female characters.

Although he influenced a generation of younger creatives, cult film-maker Robert Downey Sr's films were never commercially successful and the family lived hand-to-mouth in a cramped converted loft.

And Downey Jr, who would go on to become a star of the industry in his own right, was only six years old when he took the first step on his chaotic path to drug addiction that would ultimately land him in prison.

The younger of two children, Downey Jr was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1965 and raised initially in the bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Village, where he says he was 'surrounded' by drugs at home

His father had been hosting a poker night at the family home when he spotted the youngster sipping a glass of white wine.

But rather than swiftly extracting the glass from his young son's hands, he passed him a cannabis joint and told him to puff on that instead.

In a 2000 interview with Vanity Fair, Downey Sr, who had Parkinson's disease and died in July 2021 at 85, recalled: 'We were all sitting around, smoking grass and playing poker down in the old West Village loft, and Robert was staring at me kind of funny. Robert was always an observer of it all, even at a very young age.

'And I go, "You know, you ought to try a little of this instead of drinking."

'I passed him a joint. And suddenly I knew I had made a terrible, stupid mistake… Giving a little kid a toke of grass just to be funny.'

Downey Jr's 2022 Netflix documentary, titled Sr, included a clip of a rare interview, seemingly from the 1990s, with his father.

Cult film-maker Robert Downey Sr admitted to giving his six year old son drugs for the first time and later said it was a 'terrible, stupid mistake'

He admitted: 'A lot of us thought it would be hypocritical to not have our kids participate in marijuana and stuff like that. It was an idiot move on our parts to share that with our children. I'm just happy he's here.'

Asked if he was ever worried that his son — who is next to him in the interview looking distinctly the worse for wear — might not survive, he replies: 'Many times.' 

Home life involved 'growing up in a family where everyone was doing drugs,' according to Downey Jr, who previously revealed he had been hooked since the age of eight.

Telling a judge about his addiction to cocaine and heroin in 1999, he said it was 'like I have a shotgun in my mouth, and I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal.' 

The family moved at least a dozen times as Downey Sr cast his young son in age-inappropriate film roles

Downey Sr's unorthodox approach to parentings went beyond just drug use too.

He would take his son to watch X-rated films and even cast him in his own disturbing and far from child-friendly movies.

Downey Jr was only five when he had his first onscreen role in absurdist comedy Pound (1970) — in which the cast played stray dogs waiting to be put down. 

His father made no allowance for five-year-old Robert's age in the single line he scripted for him in which he asked a bald-headed man: 'Have any hair on your balls?' 

Downey Jr was only five when he had his first onscreen role in absurdist comedy Pound (1970) — in which the cast played stray dogs waiting to be put down

Two years later, a seven-year-old Downey Jr would appear in another of his father's deranged films - a western called Greaser's Palace.

In this, his throat was cut by a Christ-like preacher and he had to watch as his own mother — also cast in the film — was viciously beaten.

The family moved at least a dozen times — to London, New Mexico, Los Angeles and Connecticut — as the parents pursued their careers at the expense of their children's education. 

Eventually, Downey Jr said drug-taking became the only way his father knew how to connect with him. 

Eventually, Downey Jr said drug-taking became the only way his father knew how to connect with him

'When my dad and I would do drugs together,' he explained in a 1988 interview, 'it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew.'

His parents divorced in 1978 — when Robert was 13 — and he initially moved with his father to Santa Monica, California.

But, at high school, his drug and alcohol problems escalated as he partied with the Hollywood brat pack. 

His fellow students there, including Sean Penn, Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez, were already stars and Robert was determined to be one too.

Downey Jr dropped out of school aged 16 and spiraled further into addiction

Downey Jr dropped out of school to pursue acting at 16 years old and, just two years later, he was forced to fend for himself when his father cut him off financially.

The aspiring star returned to New York to try his luck on the stage.

He swiftly found not only work but romance when — after a fling with future Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei — he began a serious relationship with fellow cast member Sarah Jessica Parker, then also 18, and some years from stardom in Sex And The City.

They lived together for five years before Downey Jr's drug addiction destroyed their relationship.

By then, however, he had found his breakout role, playing a drug-addicted rich kid in the 1987 film Less Than Zero.

Downey Jr dropped out of school to pursue acting at 16 years old and soon had a whole host of credits under his belt (pictured in Weird Science in 1984)

But, at just 18 years old, Downey Jr was forced to fend for himself when his father cut him off financially

And other big screen opportunities flooded in, including one co-starring with Mel Gibson in the 1990 action-comedy Air America, and an Oscar-nominated performance as Charlie Chaplin in 1992's Chaplin. 

Downey Jr married model Deborah Falconer in 1992 and they had son Indio but his drug usage and chaotic behavior only increased.

In 1996, the star was arrested for speeding while drunk and possessing heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and an unloaded gun. 

The following month, while awaiting trial, his neighbors called the police after discovering Downey Jr had wandered into their home in a druggy haze and passed out on their 11-year-old son's bed.

The same year, his wife finally gave up on his drug-bingeing and left him. 

A judge ordered him to go into rehab but he escaped, was recaptured and sent back, with Downey Jr admitting he was 'the poster boy for pharmaceutical mismanagement.'

He began a serious relationship with fellow cast member Sarah Jessica Parker, then also 18, and some years from stardom in Sex And The City - but their relationship was destroyed by his drug use

He repeatedly skipped court-ordered drug tests and was in and out of jail — twice waking in a pool of his own blood after other inmates attacked him — before a judge finally lost patience with the star and jailed him for three years in 1999 

He repeatedly skipped court-ordered drug tests and was in and out of jail — twice waking in a pool of his own blood after other inmates attacked him — before a judge finally lost patience with the star and jailed him for three years in 1999.

Even after getting out in 2000 and winning a Golden Globe for his performance as Calista Flockhart's boyfriend in TV legal drama Ally McBeal, he continued to get into trouble. 

Police found cocaine and methamphetamine in his hotel room and, while on parole, he was found wandering around LA, barefoot and high.

Fired from Ally McBeal, he went back into rehab. 

How Downey Jr finally quit drugs for good thanks to producer Susan Levin 

Finally, in 2003, he met producer Susan Levin on a film set. She told him she would marry him — which she did in 2005 — only if he promised to quit drugs for good.

He went into therapy including a 12-step program, took up meditation and kung fu, and now says the strongest drug he consumes is caffeine.

Downey Jr appeared to acknowledge Susan's long-running support during his Oscars acceptance speech on Sunday as he said: 'I'd like to thank my veterinarian — I meant wife — Susan Downey over there. 

'She found me, a snarling rescue pet, and loved me back to life. That's why I am here. Thank you.'

Finally, in 2003, he met producer Susan Levin on a film set who told him she would marry him — which she did in 2005 — only if he promised to quit drugs for good

His film career went from strength-to-strength and he has since been able to reflect on his checkered past through his Netflix documentary having healed the rift with his father

His film career went from strength-to-strength and he has since been able to reflect on his checkered past through his Netflix documentary having healed the rift with his father.

Referring to his dismal upbringing, Downey Jr says at one point: 'I think we would be remiss not to discuss its effect on me.'

His father, embarrassed, mumbles back: ‘Boy, I would sure love to miss that discussion.'