Robert Downey Jr. reflects on time in prison: 'Worst thing that happened to me'

Robert Downey Jr. is looking back at a dark time in his life.

The Oppenheimer actor dished on his time in a California state prison in 1999 during an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast on Monday.

He revealed that he was sent to North Kern State Prison in Delano, California after being “over-sentenced by an angry judge,” after missing a number of court-ordered drug tests tied to a 1996 cocaine possession charge.

At the time, Downey said he was in denial of his substance issues as he recalled the prison as "arguably the most dangerous place I’ve ever been in my life" noting that inmates of various security levels were kept together.

"You could just feel the evil in the air, and that was no trouble at all because it was kind of like just being in a really bad neighborhood. There was no opportunity there. There was only threats," he shared.

The Iron Man actor revealed he was eventually transferred to the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, where he grappled with the reason for being there.

"We are programmed to, within a short amount of time, be able to adjust to things that are seemingly impossible," he said. “And for me, there’s worse things that could have happened than being sent to an institution, for sure.

"However, we can only go by what we know, and I would imagine if I had to guess, that was the worst thing that happened to me."

Later on the podcast, he explained that being there was akin to "being sent to a distant planet where there is no way home until the planets align."