Robert Downey Jr. In Rehab

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/14/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Robert Downey Jr. celebrated his release from prison by eating a hamburger and checking into a "self-imposed recovery program," his lawyer told reporters on Thursday. "He plans to maintain a life of sobriety." Downey, 35, is expected to spend at least 40 days at an undisclosed residential program in Southern California, said lawyer Robert Waters. "I think he's turned a corner. He's made some amazing breakthroughs." Thursday marked the Oscar nominee's first full day of freedom after an appeals court set him free on a technicality. (Downey's sentencing judge failed to specify whether some of the time he was to do for drug-related charges was to be served consecutively.) Since August of 1999, Downey had been living in a substance abuse treatment facility at the Corcoran State Prison in central California. Waters remarked that Downey looks forward to resuming his acting career, and the general consensus around Hollywood is that his phone will again ring with offers.