It’s always interesting – and often incredibly sad - to hear addicts talk about their “rock bottom” experience – that moment when they realized their lives were so out of hand and they had fallen so far down that their only options are to finally beat their addiction or die. Normally it’s a really powerful, frightening experience. For Robert Downey Jr, it’s all because of Burger King – and their crappy food.

Robert Downey Jr. has publicly thanked Burger King for helping him overcome his problems with addiction. The fast food chain, he says, also helped to resurrect his career.

The fast food epiphany happened in 2003 when the “Iron Man” star was driving a car piled with “tons of f—ing dope,” Downey Jr. told Britain’s Empire magazine. The actor decided to pull over for a burger and everything changed.

“I have to thank Burger King,” he said. “It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen.” Downey Jr. says he then tossed all of his drugs into the ocean, deciding right then and there to clean up his act.

[From the Daily News]

Thanks for sucking so badly Burger King! Seriously, who would have thought that some of the world’s grossest fast food – and if you live in New York City, legendarily rude service – could save a life? Nothing like soggy, cold onion rings to realize how far you’ve fallen. I’m pretty sure Burger King can cure anyone of a junk food addiction – but good to know that it works for others as well.

Here’s Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan at the UK film premiere of ‘Iron Man’ at Leicester Square in London on April 24th. Images thanks to WENN.

Gwyneth Paltrow wore a bizarre 70s purple vest suit with bell bottoms to the premiere of Ironman in LA. It looked like something Heather Mills would wear to divorce court. It’s the second time Paltrow has worn a low cut vest recently. She donned a similar vest for her appearance on The Late Show earlier this week. At least she’s not wearing another micro miniskirt, but the super wide bell bottoms leave something to be desired. It’s a one piece outfit and is cut almost to the top of her butt in back. Can’t she dress sexy without showing so much skin?

A lot of you called my post critiquing her her super short dress ageist because a younger woman might have been able to get away with it, but the issue was with her fashion not her age. She’s got a gorgeous body, but she doesn’t need to wear a skirt that barely covers her crotch to show off her legs.

As it is, she’s slowing growing on me. She gave a great interview to David Letterman earlier in the week and I found her both likable and surprisingly down to earth. I’m baffled by her outfit choices, but at least she cut her hair and is taking chances again. People are talking about her, and that’s undoubtedly what she’s going for with her wild shoes and outfits while promoting Ironman. It’s not like she’s done much recently and she may as well get as much publicity as possible.

Also shown at the premiere are Robert Downey, Jr., Vince Vaughn, Jeff Bridges and his family, Jon Favreau, Jack Black, Terrence Howard, Beau Bridges, Diddy, Pete Wentz surprisingly without Ashlee, and Jenna Dewan.

Dear Gwyneth Paltrow: you fail. You had a very good formula going with painfully fashion-forward shoes and non-hideous outfits that managed to reach at least to mid thigh. You ruined it by falling back on an old misguided habit of showing off your gorgeous legs with dresses meant for a shorter woman. Plus, those shoes are a cop out. You were supposed to wear towering studded monstrosities to your premiere to cap off a month of shoe risks. This is a disappointment, but I’m glad you no longer challenge my long held assumptions about you. Now go back to talking about how great England is and how stupid and slow-minded Americans are, and we’ll keep snickering at your foolish fashion. Those shoes were just a whim, much like our brief admiration of you.

You could have made us completely ignore this outfit if you would have showed up to the premiere with Chris, though. Now that would have been a change.

Thanks to WENN for these photos. Also pictured are Jon Favreau and his wife Joya Tillem, who gets a pass for that outfit due to non-celebrity status, and Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan Downey.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been wearing super impractical shoes lately, to the point where she’s had to be helped to walk to her car, and I think it’s kind of awesome. I’m a flats girl myself, I have size 10 feet (1/2 size bigger than Angelina, but a full size smaller than Paris) and don’t find many heels comfortable. I have a few pairs for nice nights out, but I don’t usually wear them during the day and could never go out in heels all the time like Posh.

Still, you can kind of appreciate how Paltrow is enjoying wearing ridiculous shoes. It’s her new thing and she gets a kick out it, if you’ll forgive the pun. A woman who used to bug the crap out of me is sort of growing on me as she goes out in shoes that look torturous and a little bit ugly. Now that she’s finally cut her long boring hair she’s breaking out of her old mold. Her skirts aren’t too short anymore, and her shoes are completely impractical. I like it.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures from yesterday. Also shown are her costars Robert Downey, and Terrence Howard, and director Jon Favreau, who gained back some of the weight he lost.

Iron Man is out in the US on May 2, and comes out in the rest of the world a couple of days earlier. Here’s the trailer:

Update: The Daily Mail has compiled all the photos of her recent footwear, and she’s really pushing the envelope.

Robert Downey Jr. has three big movies coming out in the next few months and has made a comeback after years of drug and alcohol abuse and resulting legal trouble. He’s been married to his producer wife Susan Levin for three years after meeting her on the set of Gothika in 2003, and seems to have stayed sober since. Downey was married when he met the woman would became his second wife, and his first wife surely put up with a lot. He was married to wife Deborah Falconer from 1992 to 2004, so if he was hooking up on set he must have been cheating on her.

Downey gave what looks like a new interview to Scottish paper The Daily Record, but it’s hard to tell because they don’t give the context or even state that they spoke with him. He certainly has a lot of controversial things to say.

On being wasted on set and hooking up with co-stars

He said: “I think stuff like ‘That was a fun day but, God, I ate way too much rice before lunch’. Or ‘Did I b**g her?’. That type of stuff. I know exactly what movies I was almost continuously drunk on when we filmed.

“And I remember certain colleagues having a lot of fun on the set with me.

“Every second star goes to bed with his co-star because they spend so much time together.

“But I’m not going to start reeling off the names.”

On his 14 year old son making him feel old

His son Indio with first wife Deborah Falconer, to whom he was married for 12 years, is now 14 .

Spending time with him can make the actor feel like he is struggling to keep up.

He said: “Half the time when I’m with my kid, I just feel like I’m the schmuck who drives the mini-van.

“I think, like any parent of a teenager, I’m struggling to stay current, see if anything is changing with him, see if he feels emotionally healthy, see if he looks like there’s anything that needs to be addressed.

“And I manage the fact he needs to have a fire lit under his ass to meet the status-quo scholastically.

“We horseplay or take a walk and I’m sure he’d rather be with his friends half the time.

“But there’s that little gap where his social life hasn’t come together so he might as well hang out with me.

“There’s those moments where I have my little Saturday nights with him. And because things are so busy and life is not easy, it’s less exhausting when it’s going pretty well.

“You see those little windows of enjoyment and you really look forward to them. It’s revitalising.”

On working hard after having a lot of time off

“There’s some constants there between my life now and my life in my wilder days,” he said. “But the funny thing is, this is probably the most backbreaking, ass-kicking work year I’ve had.

“It’s also been the most manageable year I’ve ever had, so I think in a nutshell that says it.

“I no longer feel like I’m tying my own shoe-laces together.

“I feel I can leap buildings in a single bound, but I also feel like I’m not underestimating how difficult it is, that life is really really hard, that I need a lot of support and I need to stay focused in the day-to-day stuff.

[All quoted text from The Daily Record]

Some of Robert Downey’s co-stars before he met his second wife include a then 22-year-old Katie Holmes in 2000’s Wonder Boys, a 19-year-old Heather Graham in 1999’s Bowfinger, and Darryl Hannah in 1998’s Gingerbread Man.

Last month we did a post on celebrity on-set cheaters, and the list included such classic romances as Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini in 1950’s Stromboli and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1963’s Cleopatra. Modern cheaters include Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan in 2007’s Grindhouse and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on the set of Gigli in 2003. As Downey points out, there are surely many more old and new that we’ll never hear about.

Robert Downey Jr. is shown at ShoWest on 3/13/08, thanks to PRPhotos.