Robert Downey Jr. admitted to stealing from his employer before his rise to Hollywood superstardom.
The famous actor spilled the beans about what his life was like before he was scoring multi-million dollar paychecks, and revealed some of the jobs he held down before he became famous. He went on to admit that he helped himself to some items, including a pair of shoes. “Well, I worked at a sandwich shop. I worked at a shoe store, but I had sticky fingers and I got fired after two weeks,” Downey Jr. said during a conversation with film critic Leonard Maltin Friday, according to People.
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Maltin interviewed Downey Jr. after the actor was honored with the Maltin Modern Master Award at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday.
He reflected on the choices he made before his career path led him to a brighter future.
Downey Jr. recalled stealing the shoes from his place of work, and noted, “This is before those closed-circuit cameras where they monitor who might be sitting,” according to People.
“I was not very good at it,” Downey Jr. said.
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The other jobs he held down before he became a star were far from glamorous.
“I worked in clubs and I worked at Thrifty’s in Santa Monica,” Downey Jr. said, according to People.
“I made it to busboy, but I didn’t really have the panache to be a waiter, I was told, so I had to resort to theater.”
Downey Jr. did have a few run-ins with the law during his time in the spotlight, but they weren’t associated with stealing shoes. (RELATED: ‘Motherf*cker, You Don’t Have Friends In The Joint’: Robert Downey Jr. Describes His Life In Jail)
The famous actor was arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and possession of an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum. One year after his initial arrest he skipped a court-ordered drug test, which resulted in a four-month stint in the Los Angeles County Jail, according to CNN.