His Son Has Been Arrested

Between playing Tony Stark in the Iron Man films and playing Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes films, Robert Downey Jr.'s star has never shone brighter. However, there was a time where that wasn't always the case. Downey Jr. is developing a Showtime series about a rehab center in a move that hits very close to home for himself and anyone who has been following his career since its inception. However, while art might imitate life, it appears that life is now also imitating life. To be specific, Robert Downey Jr.'s son has been arrested for cocaine possession and we can't even imagine how terrifying that must be.

Indio Downey, who is 20 years old, was reported by TMZ to have been in a car with some friends when police pulled up alongside it around two in the afternoon on Sunday and noticed that he appeared to be smoking something out of a pipe. When the police pulled the car over and did a search, Downey was allegedly found to be in possession of cocaine. He was released on bail just after midnight.

That's a sad situation for a child star to be in alone, but it's even more sad when you factor Downey's father's history into it. Robert Downey Jr. rose to fame in the 1980s, but he was also struggling with drugs throughout most of his career. The '90s were rife with arrests for Downey Jr.; he was brought in for possession of everything from cocaine to marijuana. It wasn't until 2001 that Downey Jr. finally made the decision to get clean for good and, since then, he has not only kept to that promise but he has also gone on to be a huge star — perhaps even huger than he was at the start of his meteoric rise to fame.

Details surrounding the arrest have yet to be revealed, but it's possible that history could be repeating itself with Indio Downey. A propensity toward addiction is something that can be passed down in a family and it's a sickness that requires a lot of time and effort to be treated. Whether or not Downey Jr. knew about his son's drug habits might be unclear, but we hope that now that he is aware then he can get Indio Downey the help that he might need. After all, Downey Jr. knows first hand how hard getting clean can be.

On the other hand, there is the possibility, no matter how small, that the cocaine didn't actually belong to Indio Downey even if he was in possession of it. Maybe he learned his lesson from Downey Jr.'s past and was honestly just holding it for a friend. Sure, nine times out of ten, when that excuse is used then it's the exact opposite of true, but it just seems sad to think that we might have to watch Indio Downey walk down the same dark path that Robert Downey Jr. did before he managed to pull himself back and get himself help. Whatever happens next, father and son will need to pull together as a family in order to get through it.

UPDATE: Robert Downey Jr. has released a statement to TMZ about his son's arrest: "Unfortunately there's a genetic component to addiction and Indio has likely inherited it. Also, there is a lot of family support and understanding, and we’re all determined to rally behind him and help him become the man he's capable of being... We’re grateful to the Sheriff’s department for their intervention, and believe Indio can be another recovery success story instead of a cautionary tale."