“Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. attributes his victory over drug addiction to a meal he had at Burger King.

In 2003, the actor – who, at the time, was battling an addiction to drugs and alcohol – was driving a car filled with “tons of f**king dope” on California’s Pacific Coast Highway when he decided to stop at the burger joint for a meal.

And the trip to the fastfood outlet caused him to re-evaluate his whole life.

He says, “I have to thank Burger King. It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen.” According to Britain’s Empire magazine, Downey Jr. proceeded to throw all his drugs into the ocean, resolving to clean up his act then and there.
The actor goes on to hint that a fateful moment in new movie Iron Man, when his character Tony Stark requests a cheeseburger from Burger King after being released from his captors, is a reference to his own experiences.

Source: Robert Downey Jr. – Downey Jr. Finds Salvation with Fast Food

It’s got to be one of the most unusual incidents of product placement in movies ever. As the New York Times reported earlier this year, Robert Downey Jr.’s life experience spawned product placement and licensed merchandise.

His romance with mood-altering chemicals didn’t end after he got out of prison. By 2003 he was an uninsurable serial relapser famous for being pulled out of hotels or other people’s homes in an addled, disheveled state. As a movie star with a lot of pals, he lived a life beyond consequence until he finally wore out the endless mercies of the entertainment business. After he was fired from his spot on “Ally McBeal,” the bottom finally came, at a Burger King of all places.

On or around Independence Day in 2003, he stopped at a Burger King on the Pacific Coast Highway and threw all his drugs in the ocean. And while he was sitting there chewing on a burger, he decided he was done. This being America, five years later you can walk into that Burger King, and if you order a Kids Meal you can get your own Robert Downey Jr. action figure, wrapped up in gadget ware. (And what does Tony Stark want when he escapes his kidnappers? A good old American cheeseburger — from Burger King, natch.)

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“If I see somebody who is throwing their life away with both hands and is raging around and destroying their family, I can’t understand that person,” he said. “I’m not in that sphere of activity anymore, and I don’t understand it any more than I understood 10 or 20 years ago that somehow everything was going to turn out O.K. from this lousy, exotic and dark triple chapter of my life. I swear to God I don’t even really understand that planet anymore.”

Source: Been Up, Been Down. Now? Super – With Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. Winks at His Past and Looks to Transcend It.

Iron Man continues to be wildly successful, having grossed $288 million to date.

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Robert Downey Jr. Thanks Burger King for Life Changing Experience