Robert Downey Jr. posts touching tribute to his late mother: 'She was my role ...
Robert Downey Jr.'s mother Elsie Ann Ford passed away earlier this week, and the actor memorialized his mother in a moving tribute posted to his Facebook page Friday.
'I wanna say something about her life, and a generic 'obit' won't suffice,' the star said about his mother, who passed away Monday at age 80.
Downey wrote that his mother was born outside Pittsburgh in 1934, and that in the mid-1950s she dropped out of college and moved to New York with dreams of 'becoming a comedienne.' There she met actor and filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., whom Elsie married and had two children, Robert Jr. and his sister Allyson.
'The Avengers' star detailed his parents' fruitful creative collaborations, inspired by the 'underground counter-culture' of the 1960s, which included a film in which Elsie played 17 different characters.
He then detailed how his mother's personal life and acting career began to suffer due to alcohol addiction, and recounted living with his mother after she had divorced his father.
'I remember living with her and her boyfriend Jonas, (who became a second father to me) in a 2 room 5 story walk up in Manhattan after that...Bunsen burner for a stove, cockroaches, broken dreams...
Elsie eventually sought treatment and got sober by 1990, her son said, but continued to have health problems. By this time, Downey had launched his own acting career.
'While I strived to have the kind of success that eluded her, my own addiction repeatedly forbade it.
'In the summer of 2004, I was in bad shape. She called me out of the blue, and I admitted everything. I don't remember what she said, but I haven't drank or used since,' he revealed.
The actor said that he had 'many fond memories' of spending time with his mother after he moved her to Los Angeles to be near him and his children, noting that 'she had a special affinity for my firstborn son Indio, and really got a kick out of (younger son) Exton.' (Downey and his wife Susan are also expecting a baby girl in November.)
In March of this year, Elsie suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on life support. While her loved ones hoped she would recover, her condition eventually worsened and she passed away on Monday. He added that his mother was survived by her 'extremely loving and tolerant partner of 37 years, Jonas Kerr.'
'She was my role model as an actor, and as a woman who got sober and stayed that way,' Downey wrote about his mother.
'My ambition, tenacity, loyalty, 'moods,' grandiosity, occasional passive aggression, and my faith, that's all her,' he added. 'And I wouldn't have it any other way.'
He concluded his heartfelt eulogy with a photo of his mother as a young woman, along with the words: 'Elsie Ann Downey. 1934-2014.'
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