If the 96th American Film Academy Awards ceremony made anything clear, it is that Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey, are more in love than ever. The couple posed together on the red carpet and did not stop showing affection throughout the gala, including the moment in which the performer won the coveted statuette for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Oppenheimer.
“I would like to thank my veterinarian, I mean, my wife, Susan Downey. She found me as a grumpy pet and rescued me, loved me back to life,” the actor said on stage. A “pet” that he found in 2003 on a shoot and from which he never left again.
Of course, keeping the flame alive in that way in a marriage for so many years is not an easy task. However, the couple has a secret, which is key to making their thing work. Susan Downey herself has revealed this to People magazine, ensuring that it is a “basic rule” for the entire family.
“We have a two-week rule, which often seems too long, but we don’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other and without the family being together,” explains the film producer. “You stick to the basic two-week rule and then don’t try to think too far into the future, because so much of what we do is strangely unpredictable. You never know.”
A rule that she shares with her two children, in addition to her husband’s eldest son, Indio (30), the result of a teenage relationship; who do not hesitate to join whatever destination her father’s career takes him to. “Fortunately, we prefer to be a traveling circus when we can be.”
Since Robert Downey Jr. met Susan Levin, a film producer, on the set of the film Gothika, in which the actor starred alongside Halle Berry and Penélope Cruz, his life was no longer the same. Susan herself commented on it years later in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar; “There was something inside me that knew quickly. Three months later I knew he was everything.”
In 2005, they tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in The Hamptons. The actor described her to Oprah Winfrey as her “best friend” and confidant, responsible for her quitting her addictions and getting into trouble with the law. She gave him an ultimatum: “I made it clear that if he stayed with me nothing could happen. I think he saw what we had. There was something magical there, something we couldn’t identify. He always says that we become that third thing when we get together, something neither of us could have been on our own, and I think that’s true.”
Since then, she has always been with the actor, with whom she has two children: Exton Elias (12) and Avi Roel (9); also her professional side, since they both work in their production company, Team Downey, originally linked to Warner Bros. A family project that they have carefully cared for and that, for 14 years, has given them many joys.
On Valentine’s Day 2023, the protagonist of As I Am promised eternal love to his wife: “To her who lovingly tolerates my many antics, I promise my eternal love.”
