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Though we certainly feel pangs of sorrow for the impossible-not-to-adore Robert Downey Jr. whenever we read the latest interview with him unloading his thoughts on what it was like to be a druggie, we're wondering if it's possible to publish a story about the guy without it feeling like a public therapy session. As he begins his inevitably long and high-profile series of appearances in the press to push Iron Man, he sat down with normally family-friendly Parade to chat not really about the role or the movie, but about his battle with drugs yet again. But this time, he's dishing on the mythic seven-year relationship he had with multi-tasking celebrity Sarah Jessica Parker:

"I liked to drink, and I had a drug problem, and that didn't jibe with Sarah Jessica, because it is the furthest thing from what she is...[She] would pull me out of a hangover, and we'd go pick out furniture together. She is a force of nature!"

Though Downey has nothing but nice things to say about Parker, from the fact that she was a sober angel to her current marital and familial bliss, he kind of disses her by pointing out that "before I met [wife Susan Levin], I just didn't give a goddamn. What changed is that I cared." On top of discussing his "faux nihilistic, punk rock" attitude towards drugs, we're wondering when Parade became the sort of venue in which celebrities openly discuss their naughty habits. Isn't the Sunday supplement the kind of place you pick up gardening tips and discover what to expect while expecting? What's next, Pete Doherty dishing on why he fed kittens crack in Ladies Home Journal? But we digress ... Aside from the standard druggie reflection we expect from Downey, we also learn why he pursued the Iron Man part by saying "Keanu Reeves got The Matrix, and Johnny Depp got Pirates...I'm looking at all these posters of the movies I've seen with my son, and I'm thinking, 'Damn! I could do that!'" We sure hope he can.

[Photo credit: Getty]