Robert Downey Jr. says he has only been sober five or six years, but it feels like a lifetime.

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The 45-year-old actor suffered addictions to drugs and alcohol for years, with several stints spent in jail and rehab as a result. He reportedly has kicked the habit, however, and has been enjoying a career renaissance, starring in the hit films "Iron Man," "Tropic Thunder" and "Sherlock Holmes."

"Not having done drugs for literally five or six years is a lifetime," UsMagazine.com reported Downey Jr. says in the November issue of Playboy. "I think of myself as someone who has no desire, use for or conscious memory of that life. And yet I don't shut the door on it, and I don't pretend it didn't happen."

He went on to say he still has "very strong" memories of the days when he was a "messed-up kid ... lost, lost in narcotics."

"(I feel like) a veteran of a war that is difficult to discuss with people who haven't been there," Downey Jr. added. "Looking back, I think: 'Oh my God, I could have been done. I could have been so fried and so bad off and, 'Oh my God, such a cautionary tale.' And I still could be."