Robert Downey Jr.'s Emotional Tribute to His Mom

Robert Downey Jr. wrote a moving tribute to his mother when she passed away after battling health issues, and now he's telling Ellen about his grieving process.

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On Thursday's Ellen Degeneres Show, the host asks about the beautiful homage he paid to his mother on Facebook.

His tear-jerking post concluded with a heartfelt plea to his readers: "If anyone out there has a mother, and she's not perfect, please call her and say you love her anyway..."

Downey tells Ellen there were intense parallels between the character he plays in his new movie, The Judge, and his own life. "The film starts with Hank’s mom passing away," he says. "This whole thing was kind of going on with my mom and her health the whole time, and a few weeks ago she passed. And I felt like I’m not really ready to talk about it yet, but I wanted to -- you know, do or say something… So I wrote something for 20 million people to read. But it was kind of part of my grieving process in a way. She was a great gal."

Downey also talked more about the daughter he and his wife, Susan, are expecting. He also has a 2-year-old son with Susan named Exton.

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Watch Robert and Susan talk about getting ready to be parents again in the video below.