Sarah Jessica Parker Recalls Being 'Angry and Embarrassed' During Robert Downey Jr. Relationship

Sarah Jessica Parker is opening up about her seven-year relationship with Robert Downey Jr. and how his struggles with substance abuse affected their lives together. The And Just Like That star, 58, spoke candidly in a New Yorker profile published Monday, saying that she never felt it "necessary" to have her own rebellious phase. 

"People around him would be dismissive of me, but I had given him stability and tried to create a steady heartbeat that allowed him to show up on time," Parker said. "That made me angry and embarrassed me." The Sex and the City star and the Tropic Thunder actor, 58, dated from 1984 to 1991 after meeting on the set of their film together, Firstborn. 

The two might not have worked out romantically, but both actors have spoken glowingly of one another in years past. Downey Jr., who got sober in 2003, told the New Yorker through a representative that he has "great respect" for Parker even now. The Iron Man star has spoken out about his addiction issues for years, telling Parade in February 2008 that they were the cause of the end of his relationship with 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," he told the outlet at the time. "She provided me a home and understanding. She tried to help me. She was so miffed when I didn't get my act together. I was in love with Sarah Jessica ... and love clearly was not enough."

In 2015, the two exes reunited during Downey Jr.'s trip to New York, which he recounted in April on The Howard Stern Show. "Seeing her, I was like, 'She's so great and so cool and so funny and so in-command,'" Downey Jr. said of Parker at the time. "I got to meet her kids and I saw the way she and [husband Matthew Broderick] live and I respect both of them so much."

Parker and Broderick, 61, are parents to son James Wilkie, 20, and twin daughters Tabitha and Marion, 13. Downey Jr. shares son Exton, 11, and daughter Avri, 8, with wife Susan Levin, whom he wed in 2005, shortly after getting sober. He also shares son Indio with ex-wife Deborah Falconer.