7 Things You Didn’t Know About Robert Downey Jr. And Sarah Jessica Parker’s Relationship

Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker were one of the hottest couples from the ‘80s and early ‘90s. They dated for seven years from 1984 to 1991 and they seemed madly in love with each other. Over 25 years after their breakup, these two still talk to the press about their relationship, so we’ve collected 7 things that most people don’t know about their romance:

7. Relationship Beginnings

Downey Jr. and Parker met on the set of the film Firstborn in 1987 when they were 18, and moved in two weeks after they started dating. They were aware that their relationship was moving really quickly at that point, so they kept their relationship and living arrangements a secret until filming had wrapped. Although they lived apart for a bit, she moved back in with him after he bought Charlie Chaplin’s old house and they lived there with their two Persian cats, Mr. Smith and Scout.

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6. His Sense of Humor

The Sex and the City star was really attracted to the actor’s sense of humor. “What I really remember about Downey is how smart and funny and fast and relentless he was. I’d never encountered that kind of humor before, and I was mad for it. He’s not your run-of-the-mill funnyman. So much of his work is improv. It’s literally flying out of his mouth. There’s no one else like him,” she said. Robert also loved her sense of humor, but he loved how smart and well-spoken she was as well.

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5. She Made Him More Practical

Before the Iron Man star began dating Parker, he didn’t even have a bank account and would carry his cash around in his pocket! He once said that being with her made him more practical. “If I hadn’t met Sarah, I don’t think I would have gotten a lot of the jobs I did…Sarah has made me more practical. She got me an accountant and made me get a bank account. The reason you go out is to find somebody with whom you can live comfortably. I don’t think I need to look any further,” he said. Those weren’t the only things that she did for him. She would nurse him back to health following a night of partying and would make sure he got out of bed and to the set on time.

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4. Promise Ring

During their relationship, she wore a “kind of a hanging-out-together ring.” There was a period of time where the Charlie Chaplin star thought that he and the Girls Just Want to Have Fun star were headed for marriage. “But the way I feel now, marriage looks like where we’re headed…it’s like someone you went to the army with and you’ve grown up together,” he said. Later, however, RDJ made it clear that he and his long-term girlfriend had no plans to get married and that they were just “sticking it out.”

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3. And Then There Were Three

There was a three-year period in the former couple’s relationship when Kiefer Sutherland was living with them. During one of Sarah and Robert’s rough patches, he was there consoling her, but he never tried to steal her away. “It’s more that thing, like you’re all close friends, and he was probably consoling her a bit,” he told Howard Stern. “He didn’t steal my girl, he remained in the relationship he was in. He was a shoulder [to cry on]. Better him than some stranger.”

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2. Breakup

From the beginning of their relationship, the Oscar-nominated actor was into drinking and smoking pot, but he ended up developing a serious cocaine habit as well. His dishonesty about these things – plus the fact that she was tired of playing his babysitter – led to their breakup. “I was dishonest with her a lot. I think after a certain point you break trust with someone, and you can’t repair it anymore. Also, she was growing and learning and really becoming a woman. I looked to her for security and at the same time didn’t level with her about a lot of stuff. You name it. Other woman, too much partying,” he said. According to the Emmy-winning actress, the relationship ended because he couldn’t stop his partying. “There were no ultimatums. But our relationship couldn’t have gone on if he hadn’t made the choice to stop,” she said.

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1. Closure

According to Downey Jr., he was able to get closure after their 1991 split 25 years later. They met up at her house in New York City and got dinner together. “There’s this familiarity that overtakes it, and you just realize that you’re just in the presence of this fully mature mother and woman and artist and human being, and there’s enough goodwill left over. You didn’t burn that bridge,” he told Howard Stern. In a separate interview with Stern, Parker discussed what it was like to see Downey Jr. after 25 years. “It was really nice. t was surprisingly not weird … we were 18 when we met and fundamentally we are sort of the same. I think the difference is he has a family and a wife and obviously his career is a massive thing, but I think his true nature – it was completely familiar,” she said.