While most people enjoy unwrapping their Christmas presents, it's highly likely that Robert Downey Jr. is celebrating his early Christmas gift (and it's not even wrapped!): getting a pardon for his 1996 drug conviction from California Governor Jerry Brown.
As it turns out, Gov. Jerry Brown had already made a tradition of granting pardons every Christmas Eve. It was on Thursday when the 40-year-old "Avengers" star was one among the 91 people who received pardons.
However, the pardon doesn't make his rap sheet go away. Although it doesn't "erase his record," the granted pardon does allow Downey to serve on a jury, as reported by the New York Times.
In case you forgot, Downey has arrested back in 1996 after police "found an .357 Magnum and some small amounts of heroin and cocaine in his car." He then violated several probations, and then got sent to jail in 1999.
Even though he plays Tony Stark AKA Marvel's Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jr. is only human - and makes mistakes, too. According to Vanity Fair:
"The full text of the California governor's grant reads, 'By completion of his sentence and good conduct in the community of his residence since his release, Robert John Downey, Jr. has paid his debt to society and earned a full and unconditional pardon.' Part of the reasoning behind these types of pardonings, explained Brown's spokesman Evan Westrup, is that 'people make mistakes. To err is human. The question that the governor ponders is, how do folks respond? What do they do to pull themselves up?' The governor added in a statement that 'pardons are not granted unless they are earned.'"
After serving his time in prison in 2002 and practically ruining his career, Robert Downey Jr. eventually got back on the right path. In 2003, he declared he was done with the drugs. Downey was able to make a career comeback in 2008, after starring in Marvel's "Iron Man."
Robert Downey Jr. net worth is reportedly $220 million.
