"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.

Downey Jr. hints that a fateful moment in "Iron Man," when his character Tony Stark requests a cheeseburger from Burger King after being released from his captors, is a reference to his own experiences."

Story copied from NY Daily News: "