Robert Downey Jr. says he's "relaxed" about sexuality

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Robert Downey Jr. graces the cover of the new Rolling Stone -- another in a series of comeback kid profiles the actor has scored of late, this one titled "To Hell and Back."

Not included in the excerpt of the rambling, elusive profile posted online is this rambling, elusive discussion of his sexuality:

In his early days as an actor, he wore spats and ascots. For a while, he wore lacy, frilly things, too, even during his youthful seven-year courtship of Sarah Jessica Parker, his first real girlfriend. Once upon a time, he also talked about a tendency to make out with guys. "A lot of my peer group think I'm an eccentric bisexual," he said. "That's OK. Being relaxed about sexuality is something you're born with." ...

And as to his so-called bisexuality, he now says that he made it all up, that it's just one more fiction he went by. "It was manufactured. I didn't have an identity. I was playing around. I expressed it. I grew up in the Rocky Horror Picture Show world, where even my butch friends turned out to be androgynous on Saturday nights."

Tropic Thunder -- which finally knocked the Dark Knight off its box office perch -- includes among its gay cameos (Lance Bass!) a slight wink-and-a-nod to one of Downey's more overtly queer roles from the past. Tobey Maguire (his Wonder Boys boy toy, above) shows up as an actor playing monk to a lustful priest for which Downey's character won an Oscar.

Previously > Playing Sherlock Holmes > Iron clad appeal > Zodiac's latent tendencies