Robert Downey Jr. abruptly ended an interview and walked out on British news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy after being asked about his past drug abuse.

Robert Downey Jr. Interview With Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Downey Jr. is currently traveling the world with his fellow Avengers: Age of Ultron stars to promote the newest Marvel blockbuster. And the actor has been keeping fans up to date with fun anecdotes from his press-tour via social media, like this short clip of an interview with a mini-Thor.

Asgardian micro-journalism at its finest. #AgeOfUltron #PressTour @chrishemsworth https://t.co/f5nZK1u2Nt

— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) April 22, 2015

Unfortunately, not every interview is as delightful as one with a child in full Thor getup. Downey Jr. ran into a bit of an awkward situation on Wednesday when he sat down with Channel 4 News’ Guru-Murthy.

At first, the interview went well, with Guru-Murthy opening with a few standard questions: Was Downey Jr. a fan of superheroes as a kid? Is there less pressure working on Avengers versus an Iron Man film? But then things started getting a bit awkward around the 4-minute mark (see below).

Robert Downey Jr. Shuts Down Interview

Downey Jr. also spoke about how his perception of himself has changed over years, especially in terms of how he relates to the character of Tony Stark, and that’s when Guru-Murthy asked Downey Jr. if he could expand a bit on a quote he gave The New York Times in 2008.

“You can’t go from a $2,000 a night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal,” Downey had told the newspaper. Guru-Murthy asked the actor if he held the same political views now as he did then.

Downey Jr. was clearly caught a bit off guard by the question, and at first dismissed the relevance of the question, noting that the 5-year-old quote wasn’t representative of what he would say now. When pushed, Downey Jr. seemed taken aback, saying, “Um…Are we promoting a movie?”

But, he answered, revealing he doesn’t really affiliate with any party label. “I wouldn’t say that I am a Republican, a liberal, or a Democrat. I was just talking to the person and doing the interview that day, and that happened to be my opinion,” Downey Jr. stated.

Following the somewhat awkward exchange, Guru-Murthy continued to ask personal questions. “Obviously you are doing a promotional tour round of interviews and that’s why we’re talking about the movie, but we would also like to talk a little about you and I don’t know how comfortable you are talking about yourself at the moment,” the interviewer began.

As he warned Downey Jr. of his intentions, the actor gave a few looks to the side of the camera, supposedly glancing at a publicist, before responding, “You have as much time as anyone else will.”

Guru-Murthy struggled a bit asking his next question, likely knowing his time with the actor would be coming to an abrupt end. “You’ve talked in other interviews again about your relationship with your father and the role of all that… the dark periods you entered and taking drugs and drinking and all of that, and I just wondered whether you were free of all of that?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t…What are we doing?” Downey Jr. started, before the publicist shut down the interview.

“Okay, bye,” the actor said with a smile before getting up and walking out.

“I’m sorry,” Guru-Murthy called out, but Downey Jr. had clearly had enough and left the room quietly.

Guru-Murthy has a reputation for getting celebrities riled up in interviews. He has previously had awkward run ins with celebrities Quentin Tarantino and Richard Ayoade.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.