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Ironman wouldn't run away from an interview, Mr Downey Jr. Man up and stop being such a pampered, overly-sensitive prima donna

Published: 08:41 EST, 23 April 2015 | Updated: 11:38 EST, 23 April 2015

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'I’ve always felt like such an outsider in this industry,’ said Robert Downey Jr a few years ago. ‘Because I’m so insane, I guess.’

I loved him for that.

Just as I loved him when he said this about the enduringly ghastly Hugh Grant: ‘I just thought he was a d**k, that’s all. And I still do.’

Downey Jr’s rise, fall and rise again is the stuff of showbusiness folklore.

He’s the ultimate Hollywood badboy; a wonderfully gifted actor whose lustful penchant for booze, drugs and partying landed him in rehab and jail, and nearly wrecked his glittering career.

We all rejoiced in his comeback.

Mainly because he seems so raw and real. A non-conformist constantly rebelling against the preferred behavioural pattern of conventional ‘stars’.

But then Downey Jr did a TV interview this week which shattered every notion I had about him.

Robert Downey Jr sat for a promotional interview this week in London, but decided he didn't like some of the questions that the Channel 4 interviewer was asking

It only lasted a few minutes because he walked out.

The reason?

He didn’t like the questions the interviewer was asking.

And he didn’t just politely excuse himself.

After repeated appalled looks at his publicist lurking in the shadows, Downey Jr suddenly smirked demonically, shouted ‘BYE!’ and stomped off.

As he left, he sneered at his bemused inquisitor: ‘It was all getting a bit Diane Sawyer-y’.

Ms Sawyer, of course, is one of America’s most famous and respected TV interviewers, known for asking probing questions.

Quite what Downey Jr expected from this encounter is worth exploring.

He had agreed to do an interview with Channel 4 News, one of Britain’s most intelligent and respected news programmes. A mix of NBC Nightly News and 60 Minutes.

The interviewer, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, is a serious journalist who has made hard-hitting investigative documentaries from places such as Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He had less than ten minutes allocated to him for this interview, and devoted the first chunk of it to talking about Downey Jr’s new movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Then he tried asking a few questions that pertained to Downey Jr’s troubled past. The star has talked about this stuff numerous times in the past and must have known that a Channel 4 news anchor would broach the subject.

He walked out in a star tantrum, and looked back sneering that the whole thing was getting a 'bit Diane Sawyer-y'. The interviewer, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, is a serious journalist who was asking reasonable questions

Instead of saying he didn't want to talk about the subject, Downey behaved like a pampered, cossetted, arrogant prima donna

Guru-Murthy has since confirmed on Twitter that when he set up the interview, he said he wanted to talk about both the movie and Downey Jr’s life.

But the star’s response was to feign utter horror.

‘I’m sorry… but what are we doing?’ he asked, indignantly.

I would have been tempted to reply: ‘Well, Robert, we’re doing an interview that will sell your movie, make you lots of cash, and in return, you might have to answer one or two questions that don’t just blow smoke up your a**.’

But instead, Guru-Murthy stumbled on, seemingly oblivious to the impending eruption coming his way.

It was all excruciatingly awkward and completely unnecessary.

Downey Jr’s a big boy. He’s done thousands of interviews and knows the game. If he didn’t want to answer a specific question, all he had to do was smile and say ‘I’d rather not talk about that, sorry. Let’s move on.’

It’s really not difficult.

Instead, he chose to behave like a pampered, cossetted, arrogant prima donna.

The result? The video of this otherwise uninteresting interview has now gone viral around the world. And for every one of his fans crying foul over Guru-Murthy’s ‘intrusive questioning’ there will be others thinking: ‘Robert Downey Jr’s an overly-sensitive little twerp, isn’t he?’

Nobody wins.

In a separate incident, Downey Jr’s fellow thespian Ben Affleck has apologised after ordering a PBS show to remove the revelation that he had a slave owner in his family background.

Downey's walk out comes on the heels that Ben Affleck absurdly tried to excise bits about his family genealogy that included owning slaves

A revelation that came during a lengthy interview he agreed to do…about his family background.

The show is called ‘Finding Your Roots’ for goodness sake!

I’m a big fan of Affleck’s, but this made him look absurd.

And shame on PBS for agreeing to his preposterous demands.

During the 1,250 shows I hosted for CNN, I got to interview hundreds of big stars, politicians and tycoons.

Some didn’t give a damn what I asked them. Oprah, for example, laid down no pre-conditions, and answered all my questions with remarkable frankness. If I got too cheeky or near the knuckle, she just laughed and ordered me to ‘move on!’ She was a class act.

As was George Clooney, who agreed to let me ask him a few ‘personal’ questions so long as they followed a lengthy discussion about his sterling work in the Sudan. It was a fair deal and we both got what we wanted out of the interview.

President Bill Clinton was always relaxed about me going ‘rogue’ with my questioning if I also devoted enough airtime to what HE wanted to talk about too. He understands, better than most, the two-way street relationship with the media.

But many others had their expansive, aggressive publicists, agents or lawyers spend days or even weeks before the interview took place trying to control how it would be conducted – and afterwards, how it might be edited.

I suffered my own walk-outs too.

Republican politician, and former Tea Party darling, Christine O’Donnell ripped off her microphone mid-interview and stomped off with the immortal words: ‘You’re being a little rude, we’re done here.’

My crime?

In an interview with Piers, George Clooney fairly agreed to a few ‘personal’ questions so long as they followed a lengthy discussion about his sterling work in the Sudan. Oprah laid down no preconditions for an interview with Piers, and answered everything. She is otal class act

I had the audacity to ask her about material in her own book, which she was appearing on the show to publicise.

Shortly before flouncing off, she barked at me and said: ‘Don’t you think as a host, if I say ‘This is what I want to talk about, that’s what we should address?’

Well no, Ms O’Donnell, I don’t! If you come on a show to promote your literary works, then you must be prepared to answer any questions that arise from those same works.

Kelsey Grammer didn’t even get as far as my studio. He took exception to a pre-taped tease containing a photo of his ex wife and simply went home. Despite the fact that he had agreed to discuss his ex wife during the interview.

We recently bumped into each other and had a laugh about it.

But I’m still baffled why he didn’t just come on air, give me a verbal whack in the chops about the picture, then get on with the interview.

That would have been so much easier than making such a scene.

The same applies to Downey Jr, who seemed extraordinarily under-prepared for his Channel 4 interview.

A simple Google check of Guru-Murthy’s work would have revealed that he has form for refusing to play the Hollywood game.

In 2013 the same interviewer reasonably pressed Quentin Tarantino about the extreme gun violence in his movies. Tarantino raged, ‘I refuse to answer your questions!’ adding. ‘I am not your slave and you are not my master. You can’t make me dance to your tune, I’m not a monkey!'

Not the first time: Tarantino loses it with Guru-Murthy in 2013

In 2013, he pressed Quentin Tarantino about the extreme gun violence in many of his movies – perfectly reasonable, you might think, given the interview was taking place a few weeks after the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre.

Tarantino looked, ironically, like he’d been shot.

‘I refuse to answer your questions!’ he raged. ‘I am not your slave and you are not my master. You can’t make me dance to your tune, I’m not a monkey! It’s none of your damn business what I think about that!’

‘I’m shutting your butt down!’ he raged, before adding: ‘This is a commercial for the movie, make no mistake!’

God forbid any journalist would forget that Quentin!

At least Tarantino stayed in his seat.

But it would have been so much more interesting, especially to viewers at home, if he’d simply answered the question.

Journalists are not real journalists if they are seen as mere extension tools for actors’ PR machines.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy was just doing his job. And doing it in a manner entirely consistent with the way he normally does his job at Channel 4 News.

Robert Downey Jr should have understood that, and been more courteous.

He didn’t have to spill out his guts about his past if he didn’t want to.

But nor did he have to throw his toys out of the pram.

Ironman, on balance, would have probably stuck it out.