London, December 05 (ANI): Robert Downey Jr. has revealed that his new lean look in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is the result of an illness he suffered while in Japan.

The actor decided to sustain his svelte frame after he had lost considerable amount of weight because of the disease.

“I was in Japan promoting Iron Man, and I went to a restaurant where I contracted a parasite and got really sick for three day,” the Daily Express quoted him as telling Rolling Stone mag.

He added: “I started losing weight and thought to myself, ‘Hey this is a nice jump-start!’ It just gave me a nice little head-start with the first five pounds and then I kept going until I was thin. I felt as though I may float away.”

Downey Jr. was promoting his film ‘Iron Man’ when he dropped five pounds due to illness. (ANI)