Robert Downey Jr.'s mother died last Monday, and on Friday he posted a very touching tribute to her on Facebook. Elsie Downey was an actress for a while, but her career was destroyed by alcoholism in the '70s.

Downey said, quote, "By 1990, she'd had enough, went to treatment, got sober . . . While I strived to have the kind of success that eluded her, my own addiction repeatedly forbade it.

"In the summer of 2004, I was in bad shape. She called me out of the blue, and I admitted everything. I don't remember what she said, but I haven't drank or used since."

He added, quote, "She was my role model as an actor, and as a woman who got sober and stayed that way . . . My ambition, tenacity, loyalty, 'moods,' grandiosity, occasional passive aggression, and my faith . . . That's all her . . . and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"If anyone out there has a mother, and she's not perfect, please call her and say you love her anyway . . ."

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