Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey Attend Breakthrough Prize Ceremony
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Actor Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, film producer Susan Downey, have been together for over 20 years, share two children, and run a successful production company. They are a true Hollywood power couple.
Here is their complete relationship timeline since the day they met shooting a major motion picture, to their recent hits on Netflix and in theaters.
[table-of-contents] stripped
2003
The couple first met on the set of the film Gothika, which starred Robert, Halle Berry, and Penélope Cruz. Susan, who was then known as Susan Levin, was working on the film as a producer with Silver Pictures.
In 2014, she told The Hollywood Reporter that when he first approached her she found him “interesting but weird.”
“Everybody else ordered Japanese, but Robert told us how oatmeal was the ‘superfood,’” Susan gave as example of Robert’s differences. “He brought his own packets of oatmeal to have at lunch. And he had this box of various herbs and stuff. And then he started doing these yoga moves. I mean, he was interesting but weird.”
But she eventually said yes to a date, and they immediately dove into a relationship.
October 2003
Going public in late 2003, Susan was Robert’s date for the premiere of The Singing Detective, a musical he starred in with Katie Holmes, Robin Wright, and Adrien Brody.
November 2003
In November, Robert proposed. In 2004, during a joint appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, they shared the story of that moment.
“It was her birthday, and I wanted to get her before she turned 30, so I waited right before midnight, and I got her a bunch of stuff and then there was a ring,” Robert explained. “And she opened that, and I said…What did I say?”
Susan replied, “‘I was wondering if, maybe, you’d wanna, like, be my wife one day.’”
They attended the premiere for Gothika that month.
August 2005
In that interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Susan said that though they got engaged quickly, she insisted on a long engagement. Their wedding took place two years later in Amagansett, New York, on Aug. 27, 2005. Some of the guests in attendance included Sting, Keanu Reeves, and Billy Joel.
2008
Fans of Sherlock Holmes should thank Susan, because Guy Ritchie has credited Robert’s casting to her after he was hired to direct the detective movie.
“If Susan hadn’t been in the room, Robert probably wouldn’t have become Sherlock Holmes. She facilitated it, definitely,” Ritchie told The Hollywood Reporter. Susan produced both that film and the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
December 2009
Susan opened up about living with Robert as he maintains his sobriety. She discussed how he has been drug-free since 2003.
“[I said], ‘This isn’t gonna work.’ I made it clear that to stay with me, nothing could happen,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I think he saw what we had. There was something magical there, something we couldn’t put our finger on. He always says that we became this third thing when we got together—something that neither of us could have become by ourselves—and I think that’s true.”
January 2010
Robert won for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Sherlock Holmes at the 2010 Golden Globes and shouted out his wife.
“First of all, I’d like to thank Susan Downey for telling me that Matt Damon was going to win, so don’t bother to prepare a speech,” he joked. “I really don’t want to thank my wife because I could be bussing tables at the Daily Grill if not for her. Jesus, what a gig that would be.”
Susan said of the moment later, “I know he didn’t have [a speech] fully prepared, but he is really good off the cuff, and he actually tends to do better when he doesn’t plan things.”
June 2010
The pair launched their production company, Team Downey, in 2010.
“We played with other names, like RoSuDo,” Susan told THR. “But everyone was like, ‘What the heck’s that?’ If you have to explain that it means Robert Susan Downey, then it’s not going to work.”
August 2011
In August 2011, the couple confirmed they were expecting a child.
“Robert and Susan could not be more excited over this news,” Robert’s rep said in a statement. “They can’t wait to welcome this new baby into their wonderful family.”
February 2012
Their son, Exton, arrived in 2012.
July 2014
They announced they were expecting a second child on Twitter on Robert’s account, where he joked, “Yo. Susan. Me. Baby. Girl. November. Scorpio?”
Yo. Susan. Me. Baby. Girl. November. Scorpio?
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) July 9, 2014
November 2014
Their daughter, Avri, was born in November.
“After 9 months of intensive development, Team Downey is pleased to announce our 2014 fall/winter project,” Robert wrote in a Facebook post at the time. “Principal photography commenced 11-14 and will continue until she says, ‘Dad! You are embarrassing me … I’m 30, this has gotta stop.’”
He continued, “Yep … Avri Roel Downey joined the party @ 3:22 A.M. on November 4th … she's 7lbs even, spans 20 inches, and is accompanied by a variety of Susan’s traits that have seemingly overwritten my ‘junk DNA.’”
That month, Robert was honored with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at the BAFTA Awards. During his acceptance speech, he said, “The second pregnancy has been extraordinarily tough for me. Self-prescribed mandatory bed rest was of some benefit. At least my milk is finally coming in.”
August 2015
On their 10th wedding anniversary, Robert shared a picture of himself with Susan on the beach in sunglasses.
“A perfect 10,” he captioned the post. “Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Downey.”
October 2017
The couple offered a tour of their home in the Hamptons to Architectural Digest, showing off some special features.
“We wanted something we haven’t seen a million times,” Robert said of their windmill and praying mantis statue. “We didn’t set out to do something conspicuously wacky. We just enjoy a bit of whimsy and fun. And we definitely don’t like boring.”
January 2020
Team Downey released their production Dolittle, starring Downey as the vet who speaks with animals, in January 2020.
“It was fun to pick something that our kids could see,” Susan told Extra. “Because even though he’s let our son see the Marvel movies—certain ones—they weren’t able to see any of the movies that we’ve worked on. We don’t like going too long without having an extremely difficult project together, whether it’s a movie.”
That month, their company signed a first-look, one-year deal with HBO.
“We're excited to roll up our sleeves, expand the partnership, and tell stories that meet the standard their brand has come to represent,” the couple said in a statement to THR.
June 2021
Team Downey released hit show Sweet Tooth on Netflix, a story that focuses on a massive pandemic and a bunch of half-human, half-animal hybrid children.
“I just hope people have the experience that we get to have with our kids, where we cuddle up on the couch and all watch it together,” Susan said of the show.
November 2021
Robert honored Susan on Instagram for her birthday.
“Adjusting the halo on my heaven sent partner Mrs D … you are my everything, and November 6th, Always a day of gratitude, for your blessed birth,” he wrote. “P.S. I will never watch ahead on a co-viewed streaming show...That is my eternal vow.”
August 2022
On their 17th wedding anniversary, Robert shared old photos from the day of their wedding.
“Today marks 17 years of unadulterated marital bliss,” he wrote. “Susan, you are my bedrock, touchstone and lucky stars to boot.”
February 2023
For Valentine’s Day, he shared more pics of them together.
“To she who lovingly tolerates my many shenanigans, I pledge my undying love …” he captioned the photos.
December 2023
A source told Us Weekly that after 20 years together, the couple are “as much in love today as they were in the days after they met,” adding, “They’re the envy of all their friends because they make it look so easy.”
The insider said that Susan is Robert’s “right-hand person...She’s so supportive of him. He always blows her away with his talent.”
February 2024
Robert won the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role trophy at the 2024 SAG Awards. He made sure to thank his wife in his acceptance speech.
“Now why have I added my wife’s name to the list of super talented [actors] that I’ve learned so much from up close over these last 40 years?” Robert said. “It’s because, for 22 years, she has flawlessly portrayed a sane and rational individual who is happily married to an actor.”
March 2024
Fresh off attending the Oscars with her husband, Susan shared the rule that she and Robert have to keep their relationship strong to People. “We do have a two-week rule, which often feels too long, but we don’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other and the family being together,” she said. “Fortunately, we prefer to be a traveling circus when we can be.”
“You keep the basic rule of two weeks, and then you don’t try and think too far ahead, because so much of what we do is oddly unpredictable,” she continued, referencing their production work. “You just never know.”
“Someone might get sick, or there might be a shutdown, or this or that. So you just have to have some basic things in place, and then you have to be willing to flow with the rest of it,” she finished.
April 2024
Susan and Robert spoke about their life together and love story to Esquire in its cover story of Robert. Robert said that day-to-day, the couple goes for walks at the beach below their house, where they talk out their issues. He likened it to a form of couple’s therapy. The conversations are centered around “trying to figure out where we’re at, what’s pissing us off, what are we afraid of, what do we want, what will bring us closer together, how do we measure ourselves against relationships that we define as exemplary and not be repeaters or over-emulate? How do we want to shape our life?” he said.
Regarding the anecdote that Susan saved Robert when they met and fell in love, Susan said, “Everybody loves the simple narrative of somehow I came in and turned his life around and blah, blah, blah. But I can tell you that I would never be who I am without him in my life. His trajectory is just the easier one to chart because he’s had to live his ups and downs in public. When we met, we were fortunate that he was in a place where he was open to do things differently than he had historically. But you know what? So was I.”
Robert characterized meeting Susan as opening him to possibility. “It’s beyond us being two humans who cohabitate and have built a life together,” he said. “There’s something about her that remains almost entirely a mystery,” he says. “I still—I’ll see her across the kitchen and study her as though I’m a private investigator. And I’m not looking for some hidden motive. It’s just...she’s a full-length mirror.”
On Saturday night, the couple presented together at the 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. The Prize is sometimes called “the Oscars of Science,” and celebrates achievements in research and offers $15 million in prizes annually, according to their website. Robert wore a gray suit over a black shirt, while Susan was in a sleeveless black dress with transparent ruching around her torso in a cutout pattern.
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