Robert Downey Jr. Meets Young Fan Whose Life Was Changed by Iron Man

I have been so looking forward to meeting you. Can I interrupt you for a second? I just need to take this opportunity to just, I can't believe we're meeting you. And you get to hear our story. And just really, we're so excited. I never thought we'd ever be in a position like this, sitting across from Robert Downey Jr. Can you believe it? Well, I honestly, when I heard that we were going to meet, I was like, oh my god. It's like, and my friends are on the show, and it's fun to do the show, but this really grabbed me. So first, I have a few questions for y'all. You're 10 now, had lost the ability to speak when he was one. And then what happened when he was four? Well, we had a lot of red flags that kind of cropped up. So just behavioral. His imagination play. He would just line stuff up. He would just spin things for countless of hours. Totally. And so after consulting with family members, I have a nephew on the spectrum as well. And my sister-in-law actually pushed for us to have him tested for autism and got a confirmed diagnosis. Wow. Everybody here can relate to that sense of wanting to communicate and not being able to. What did that feel like? What was your experience of that? It was painful. Yeah. Yeah, that was really painful for him. Now that he has a voice, I go back and I ask him, hey, tell me about what you were thinking that day, or tell me about this time. And some of the things he talks about is not being able to make friends back then. Oh, sure. Having the ability not to tell us what's going on in his life. And then when you were six, something happened? Yes, I got an Iron Man helmet. And what did that do for you? It helped me talk and imagination play. Wow. Yes. So it's almost like the mask provided a sense of, it grounded him, and it allowed him to feel confident. And within 24 hours, Robert, we saw a different child. Wow. Yeah. It was a- Yeah. Look at him. Yeah. Yeah, so that was night one. And see, for me too, it's so wild. In playing this character, there's something, I think for all of us, where when you're able to wear a mask, whether you're doing theater in school, or Halloween, or whatever, I had a particular affinity. You and I both did with this same mask for some reason, and it gave us a voice. And why do you think it helped? Why do you think that? It helped me talk. It helped me hide my identity from the world. Yeah. Oh my god, you're a wiggler. There you go. Yeah. Look at this. This is absolutely bananas. Look at that. Can you give me another high five? It's like we're the same size. I cannot believe this. Now wait a minute. This might have gone too far. Is it, or is it, what is your dog's name? Mr. Stark. We thought we needed one of those. There he is. Oh my gosh. And if you'll notice the collar, it's Iron Man. It's got an Iron Man collar. And it has the arc reactor, and then his little name tag says Mr. Stark. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we love you. We love Iron Man. We love Marvel. I love you too. People always say, what will you miss most about having played this part? And it honestly is being able to talk to moms and dads and young folks and say how somehow or other this had a positive impact on you. And it just makes all these last years of working on it worthwhile. I cannot thank you enough. I can't thank you enough. Wow. And I know that there's lots of expenses for therapy and tutors. And Shutterfly is this amazing company, and they like helping people exactly like you. So they're giving your family $20,000. $20,000. And I cannot thank you. Get in. Hi, I'm Andy. Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel so you can see more awesome videos, like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things, like ball peen hammer. And also some videos of Ellen and other celebrities, if you're into that sort of thing. Oh! God!