Sarah Jessica Parker shared some rare insight into her relationship with former flame Robert Downey Jr.
In a New Yorker profile published on Monday, June 19, the And Just Like That star, 58, recalled how her and Downey Jr.’s different lifestyles affected their relationship. (The Tropic Thunder actor, 58, struggled with substance abuse for years before getting sober in 2003.)
“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,” said Parker, who told the outlet she never found it “necessary” to have a rebellious phase herself. “That made me angry and embarrassed me.”
The exes dated from 1984 to 1991 after meeting on the set of their film Firstborn. Although their love story didn’t last, the actors have spoken fondly of each other since calling it quits.
“It was a really adventurous, important eight years of my life,” the Sex and the City alum said of the relationship during an April 2018 interview with YES Network. “We were together for a long time. He was the first person that I lived with. His career was really just beginning. I was so proud to see his success and, you know, watch him grow professionally.”
The Iron Man star, for his part — who told the New Yorker through a representative that he has “great respect” for Parker — spoke candidly about how his addiction issues were the relationship’s downfall during a February 2008 interview with Parade.
“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,” he told the outlet at the time. “She provided me a home and understanding. She tried to help me. She was so miffed when I didn’t get my act together. I was in love with Sarah Jessica … and love clearly was not enough.”
The exes reunited in 2015 when Downey Jr. was visiting New York City. That April, he detailed the meetup during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show.
“Seeing her, I was like, ‘She’s so great and so cool and so funny and so in-command,’” Downey Jr. said of his former girlfriend at the time. “I got to meet her kids and I saw the way she and [husband Matthew Broderick] live and I respect both of them so much.”
Parker and Broderick, 61, share son James Wilkie, 20, and twin daughters Tabitha and Marion, 13. Downey Jr., meanwhile, shares son Exton, 11, and daughter Avri, 8, with wife Susan Levin, whom he wed in 2005. He is also the father of son Indio with ex-wife Deborah Falconer.
The Sherlock Holmes star has opened up about how Levin, 49, gave him an ultimatum ahead of their 2005 nuptials — to get sober or lose her. During a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter in October 2014, Downey Jr. called it “the clearest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.”
After Levin chimed in to note that ultimatums “only work if the person’s ready,” Downey Jr. replied, “You make me ready.”
