Robert Downey Jr.’s Wife Susan Shares the ‘2-Week Rule’ That Keeps Their 18-Year Marriage Strong (Exclusive)

Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan never separate the family for more than 14 days.

“We have a two-week rule, which often seems too long, but no more than two weeks go by without seeing each other and the family not being together,” Susan says in the new issue of PEOPLE, which highlights the actor’s Oscar win for Oppenheimer.

Susan, who has son Exton, 12, and daughter Avri, nine, with her husband of 18 years, adds: “Luckily, we prefer to be a traveling circus when we can.” (Downey is also the father of musician Indio, 30, from a previous marriage.)

But life sometimes throws up surprises – and so does Downey’s acting career, which can take him far and wide for various projects.

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“You stick to a two-week rule of thumb, and then you don’t try to think too far ahead, because so much of what we do is strangely unpredictable,” continues Susan, Downey’s producing partner at their company, Team Downey. “You never know.”

“Someone could get sick, or there could be a shutdown, or this or that. So you just have to have some basics in place, and then you have to be willing to flow with the rest of it,” says Susan.

Downey enjoys the happy family life they have built together. “Honestly, it just gives me something to tie my neurosis to, which is a positive,” he jokes.

Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey at the 2024 BAFTA Awards.

Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty

Illinois native Susan — who met Downey while filming the 2003 thriller. Gothic stylewhich she produced — she points out that her schedule is somewhat easier than her husband’s.

“The good news is that I’m not in front of the camera, so as a producer I have a little more flexibility in terms of location, where I should be,” she says.

“I really admire and have a lot of empathy for couples who both have to be in front of the camera, because you get stuck and you have to make those decisions,” adds Susan.

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For his first project after his Oppenheimer Oscar winner Downey spends a lot of time in front of the camera — as four different characters, to be exact — in the HBO series Sympathizer, whose premiere is on April 14. The espionage series is based on the 2015 bestseller by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Robert Downey Jr. on the cover of PEOPLE’s Oscars issue.

©AMPAS/Matt Sayles/Courtesy of the Academy

Downey, who shaved his head, lost weight and changed his gait to portray schemer Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimeronce again he forces himself to disappear inside Sympathizer.

“He approaches everything he’s done, every Marvel movie, every other movie, with the same level of commitment and belief that he’s an actor and that he’s doing his best to create the role,” says Susan.

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“But sometimes I think it looks so easy that it’s just like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s Downey just being Downey,’ when it’s like, ‘No, there’s a lot of craft and skill involved in the performance,'” she says.

For more on Robert Downey Jr., pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

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Source: HIS Education